Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Public broadcaster RNZ is calling for voluntary redundancies among staff after its funding was cut by $4.6 million a year in the Budget.
In a statement, CEO Paul Thompson said the news would be unsettling for people.
He said applications would need to be considered against retaining skills and experience.
RNZ has not released how many redundancies it is seeking. The deadline for applications is early July.
Paul Thompson said: "Applications for voluntary redundancy will be considered against the need to retain necessary skills, knowledge and experience within teams or critical risk areas.
"Any discussion around leaving an organisation, even if this is voluntary, is unsettling for the people involved and out of respect for our hardworking people, we will not be commenting further or sharing further details of the scheme while it remains open."
RNZ told staff about the voluntary redundancies in an email on Tuesday morning.
Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told reporters the voluntary redundancies and other cost-cutting measures were "ultimately a decision for the board and the management of RNZ".
"Even with this reduction in this budget, they've still had an increase over the past six years, a substantial increase, and we believe that they can still do a very good job with the resources that they have available," he said.
RNZ received a $26m increase in funding in 2023, a $7.3m boost in 2020, and a $2.85m annual increase in 2017 following an eight-and-half year funding freeze under the previous National government.
Reporters asked Goldsmith how significant it was for RNZ to be offering voluntary redundancy for the first time in its history.
"The reality is that, as everybody will be aware, in the broader media sector, there's been a lot of institutions that have had to go through this process," he said.
Goldsmith had previously spoken of how important it was for RNZ to continue to build trust as a publicly funded media provider, but said that was not just about the money.
"I don't think it's a simple matter of resources, there are much broader issues at play when it comes to trust and what we've seen particularly over the Covid era and beyond, was a dramatic drop in levels of public trust... institutions across the board, including politics, have suffered also a reduction of trust, and so every entity and institution needs to be asking itself how they can maintain or increase or improve the level of trust across society."
He confirmed he did not have an in-person conversation with Thompson about the changes, getting a heads up in "the last few days".
"It's not unexpected... there's been a budget reduction, and so RNZ needs to find ways to make that happen."
