a short email to the minister responsible might help
from Sandy Bartle<[email protected]> Despite many well-argued protests, the NZ government will not instruct the Board & CEO of the National Museum of NZ to maintain the existing staff who care for the national collections, although this is required by NZ Law. The Minister of Culture & Heritage, *Grant Robertson*, who knows nothing about museums, is unable to grasp the basic idea that collection care, access & maintenance is an activity that requires specialist staff. It appears likely, although the museum is very secretive on the topic, that the 1.5 million natural history specimens plus about 0.2 million cultural items will be shifted from their current safe storage, which will be sold for profit, to a warehouse surrounded by volcanos, 500 miles to the north. Servicing of the 1.7 m objects+ is planned to be done by just 2 generalist staff. Normal access will be impossible, a breach of the International Code on Zoological Nomenclature. None of the present museum managers or board members have had any direct experience in managing collections. The NZ government meanwhile deems this mass redundancy of 25 staff to be merely an ‘operational matter’. According to the Chairman of the Board, there is no shortage of funds. This is a change in direction by the museum towards being merely an entertainment centre. Final decisions will be made this week without any expert consultation. The accountancy firm, *PriceWaterhouse*, is providing “advice” to the museum. If you care about unique collections of seabirds as a research resource, please email Minister *Grant Robertson <robertson%20%[email protected]>* [email protected] today, indicating that this is internationally unacceptable practice. This is the third major restructuring that the National Museum has suffered in recent years, each leading to many so-called ‘redundancies’, always in natural history. Attached is an article which appeared in NZ’s main newspaper on the topic today: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12094495 Sadly it isn’t very strong, as the reporter who wrote it wasn’t well-informed. Staff at the museum are forbidden from speaking out publicly on the topic and their phones and email are constantly monitored. Fear prevents them from speaking out. Please send a SHORT email to Grant Robertson! Make sure you add your qualifications to any message. Please copy your message to me. Thank you! Contact me if you want more detailed information, Sandy Bartle Curator of Birds Museum of NZ 1976-2009 -- David Duffy Ph.D. Professor and Director 戴大偉 (Dài Dàwěi) Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit/Makamakaʻāinana Department of Botany University of Hawaii/*Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi* 3190 Maile Way Honolulu Hawaii 96822 USA 1-808-956-8218
