Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is refusing to express confidence in Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt.
The ACT Party called for the commission to be abolished during the election campaign, but Goldsmith said he was not planning on doing that.
However, he said changes would be made.
"Well, just in terms of the personnel, the people, and couple of roles have come up and we'll be working through that process."
Hunt's warrant as the Chief Human Rights Commissioner is due to expire in January.
Goldsmith would not express confidence in him.
"I need to talk to Paul Hunt first, that's the appropriate way to go, but we're going to be making changes across the Human Rights Commission," he said.
The commission also introduced a co-chief executive position, appointing Julia Amua Whaipooti to the role on Wednesday.
Goldsmith said he did not think it was appropriate.
"No, I don't think we should be having dual CEOs across the public sector, and I'll be looking for some advice on that."
In a statement, the ACT Party said Whaipooti's appointment was "just the latest example of a taxpayer-funded bureaucracy serving itself at the expense of delivery for New Zealanders".
The party noted she had previously worked with JustSpeak, which it called a "left-wing criminal justice reform group".
"The appointment comes after the commission also hired Claire Charters, a co-author of the radically divisive He Puapua report ... ACT has long said the people at the Human Rights Commission are left-wing activists masquerading as politically-neutral bureaucrats. There's no denying it now."
In a statement, the Human Rights Commission said it was an independent, internationally accredited and recognised National Human Rights Institution, with an excellent track record in Aotearoa and internationally.
On the co-executive role, HRC said it had disestablished a deputy role "to prioritise our new model of shared leadership", and no new funding was needed to establish it.
It believed the role was a chance to live up to its "statutory responsibility to promote, educate and protect the human rights dimension of te Tiriti o Waitangi".
"We work for all people in Aotearoa on the whole spectrum of human rights, and do that at less than the cost of a cup of coffee per person.
"This includes handling over 5000 human rights enquiries and complaints per year, running free dispute resolution, intervening in litigation, writing advice and submissions, providing guidelines on rights and promoting rights in Aotearoa."
