Response to the
Ministerial Review
He Urupare
Arotakenga
On 21 February 2018, pursuant to section 132 of the Crown Entities
Act 2004, the Minister of Justice appointed retired Judge Coral Shaw
to review the Human Rights Commission in relation to the handling of
internal sexual harassment claims and the Commission’s organisational
culture. The report on the Ministerial Review was released by the
Minister of Justice on 15 May 2018.
The Commission has taken seriously its obligations to respond to the
31 recommendations. We invested in a team of two senior seconded
personnel together with a response team, Te Röpü Arotake (Review
Group) of 11 staff, and we established a response programme. Te Röpü
Arotake provided the Chief Executive with robust advice and input in
addressing the Ministerial Review recommendations.
The response programme grouped the 31 recommendations into three
programme categories:
• Leadership and culture
• Governance
• Organisational processes and systems.
The recommendations encompassed revised policies, practices and
procedures (particularly relating to sexual harassment), improved
Commissioner induction, training, review of Commissioner support
resourcing, policy consultation, and general training for all in human
rights in the context of the workplace.
Of the 31 recommendations, all but one (assigned to the Ministry
of Justice) have started and virtually all have been completed. We
have developed an effective and genuinely consultative approach for
reviewing all our workplace policies, which we will continue to use.
Those workplace policies explicitly identified for urgent review have
been completed and implemented.
An independent quality assurance review was undertaken in December
2018 and a final review in June 2019. The review found that the
Commission has responded in an appropriate, positive and substantive
manner consistent with the Ministerial Review intent.
56
Human Rights Commission