Attorney-General Judith Collins has stepped in and spoken with Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden over her claims Employment Relations Authority members believed “money grows on trees”.

While Collins has refused to comment, van Velden confirmed to the Herald she and Collins had “briefly discussed” how they both agreed an independent Employment Relations Authority (ERA) was important.

The Public Service Association, which is strongly critical of van Velden’s comments, has complained to Collins and the Solicitor-General, and is now writing to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, seeking a meeting and for Luxon to condemn the comments.

On August 21, van Velden announced four new appointments to the ERA, welcoming a “better balance” of public and private experience among members.

Before the announcement, van Velden told BusinessDesk she was concerned too many ERA members had solely public sector experience.

“They may believe that money grows on trees, because they’re used to union bargaining and those sorts of employment contracts, or [expect an] excellence of knowledge from the perspective of the employer in a situation too,” van Velden said.

“Whereas that doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground of the private sector, where you have very stressed business owners trying to do everything right who may not be, necessarily, an expert in employment law themselves.”

Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden has expressed concern about the experience of ERA members. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Public Service Association (PSA) then called on van Velden to retract her comments and apologise, describing them to BusinessDesk as an “outrageous breach of judicial independence”.

As Attorney-General, Collins can provide an assessment of comments made by members of the executive that appear to threaten judicial independence and principles of mutual respect between ministers and the judiciary.

Collins has done so several times during this term of government and on multiple occasions to New Zealand First minister Shane Jones, who landed himself in Collins’ bad books after calling one High Court Judge a “communist” and that there were “elements of totalitarianism” in the “creep” of some recent judicial decisions.

Asked whether Collins had spoken to van Velden about her comments, Collins’ office said it would not comment on the matter.

However, van Velden said: “Minister Judith Collins and I briefly discussed the importance of maintaining the independence of the Employment Relations Authority, and we are in agreement.

“I acknowledge and respect the importance of a fair and independent authority where members of the authority listen to the facts presented to them in each case and make their best judgment.”

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons reissued her call for van Velden to apologise as she welcomed Collins’ intervention.

“These comments from the Minister [van Velden] are improper and amount to an inappropriate interference with the independence of the Employment Relations Authority.

“There are still many unanswered questions here including whether the Attorney-General spoke to the Minister before or after she told BusinessDesk that she stood by her comments and why the Minister has not simply admitted she got this wrong and apologised.”

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons wants van Velden to apologise. Photo / Supplied

Fitzsimons said she had written to Luxon today, urging him to condemn the comments and requesting a meeting.

“Since your Government has taken office, it is fair to say we have struggled with many of your proposals and decisions, but I think we can agree on one thing and that is that the recent comments [van Velden] ... do not meet the basic standards of behaviour expected of a Cabinet Minister,” the letter began.

“We ask you to set out a clear direction to your Minister about her conduct and to issue a statement which restores the application of the rule of law to the operation of the Employment Relations Authority and to the Authority members’ role, and to express your support to them to perform their role impartially as required by statute.”

The Herald has requested a response from Luxon’s office on the PSA’s letter.

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.