Jim Anderton MP Fri Aug 20 1999

The appointment of a new Human Rights Commissioner should be held up until after the election, Alliance leader Jim Anderton says.

The Government is poised to announce the appointment of a new chief Human Rights Commissioner, replacing Pamela Jefferies.

Yesterday Jim Anderton said the Government should not make any appointment of a new Health and Disability Commissioner.

'The appointment of a Human Rights Commissioner could be made any day, but it should not go ahead before the election,' Mr Anderton says.

'An outgoing government should not be filling top-level jobs less than three months before a general election.

'This is not a criticism of the people who may be nominated for the positions. It is simply a question of whether anyone should be put into a senior position this late in the day.

'It is almost inevitable that any appointee will be compromised by the suspicion that the government is filling positions with its cronies as fast as it can before it is thrown out of office,' Jim Anderton said.

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