The National Party says the Government "simply doesn't understand the concept of public sector neutrality".
The comments come in the wake of revelations Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon and his wife Ying Foon donated $1500 to Kiri Allan as she ran for the East Coast electorate in 2020.
A company called Triple Eight Investments Limited — which the couple were two of the three directors of — also provided Allan a rent subsidy worth $9185.
In June 2022 Allan was appointed Justice Minister — a role that includes the appointment of Human Rights Commissioners — including the Race Relations Commissioner.
As part of the process the Justice Minister must take into account the apolitical nature of the role and is encouraged to consult with other political parties in Parliament to try to build consensus on the appointment.
Allan said she rented office space at a property Foon's wife owned.
"I felt pretty comfortable, it was well disclosed. It was his wife's shop, it was an empty shop on the main drag. We paid some nominal sum, a sum, per week, and that's all been declared."
She felt it was an appropriate relationship and it was declared. She said she had nothing to do with Foon's appointment. She said she'd have to check if she'd declared any conflict of interest with Foon with Cabinet.
"I assume everything that's in my donation declarations has been declared and then anything that's required to declare for Cabinet, we have intensive discussions about that... but I'll go and check that."
Foon, who was appointed to his position by a previous justice minister, would not be interviewed by 1News, but told other media he was comfortable with the donation.
He, and his family, had given donations to "left and right parties" over the years.
He said he could remain independent.
National's justice spokesperson said the Government didn't understand public sector neutrality.
"The Race Relations Commissioner has a watchdog role, and needs to be clearly independent and is required to be apolitical," he told 1News.
"When Ms Allan became Minister of Justice, she should have moved quickly to deal with the perceived conflict effectively by declaring it to the Cabinet Office.
"She failed to do so and it is a major error of judgement on her part. For this minister it is a second strike offence."
ACT's David Seymour said Allan needed to remove Foon from his position.
"The Commissioner is meant to be independent of the Government and uphold human rights for all New Zealanders, instead Foon has proven he is only capable of upholding human rights when a situation fits with his personal political views," he said.
"Kiri Allan needs to sack him now. As well as consistently being hopeless, he is now compromised and clearly unable to remain in the role."
SHARE ME