Last month, when John Banks purported to appoint ACT crony Catherine Isaac to head the government's new charter school implementation committee, I fired off an OIA request. It was rejected, on the grounds that the appointment hadn't actually been made, but in doing so Banks outlined the process that would be followed:
Cabinet will approve the establishment of this Working Group in the normal way. The Minister of Education and I will identify our nominees for membership of the Working Group. These nominations will be approved by Cabinet via Appointments and Honours (APH) Committee. Once they are approved, the Minister of Education will make the appointments.(Emphasis added).
Yesterday, Isaac was (finally) formally appointed. Following Banks' advice, I sent off an OIA to the Minister of Education Hekia Parata. She has responded by immediately transferring it to Banks. Translation? The appointment is entirely Banks' doing. Its nothing to do with her.
(And now I guess we get to see if Banks can run a credible appointments process, having been effectively warned that he will be under scrutiny)
