March 18, 2024
Age limit ends Boshier’s Ombudsman role
Māori Party president John Tamihere favours dropping retirement clauses.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boschier has been forced to retire because he turns 72 next week.
Mr Boshier is highly-regarded in the role, especially for his close scrutiny of Oranga Tamariki and his efforts to make the government watchdog more responsive to Māori, but the 49-year-old Ombudsman’s Act is one of the few pieces of legislation to still have a mandatory retirment age.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has ruled out a law change allowing him to continue.
Mr Tamihere says legislation needs to keep up with changes in society.
“People are living a lot longer and can be just as productive because in the old days everything was about physicality whereas today it’s more about use of presence and age and not all old people are old, experienced peoiple but a lot are,” he says.