Secretary Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae. Photo: Ministry for Culture and Heritage / supplied
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Manatū Taonga is going ahead with cutting the jobs of most of its historians.
The disestablishment of four out of five senior historian jobs has been confirmed, among a total of 30 or so job cuts proposed last month to save money after the ministry's funding was reduced in Budget 2025.
The proposal has been amended, to cut about 26 roles in all.
One senior historian role is being retained. A couple of other historian roles were not included in the cuts proposal. Also, two others will stay on till the end of the school year, "recognising that the ministry has made commitments to schools" and that this would "allow for the completion of the already scheduled programming and exploration of alternatives for the future of the education programme".
Websites on New Zealand history the ministry runs also won a partial reprieve.
Secretary Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae said he changed the proposals to ensure Te Ara online encyclopedia was still accessible and to complete the work on a Dawn Raids history, as well as "finding a way forward" for Te Tai Whakaea Treaty Settlement Stories.
"I have... heard your strong feedback on the importance of our heritage content and production team and the taonga they have created and added to over the past three decades," he told staff in a confidential 'decision' document released to them on Thursday.
"I agreed that Te Ara Taonga, Taonga Tūturu, Treaty settlements and Matariki are critical ministry outputs that must continue to operate with as little disruption as possible."
It looked "like a slower version of shutting down websites", said a staffer who RNZ agreed not to name.
The PSA union called it "cultural vandalism".
"What we should be doing is employing even more historians because there's a lot of work to be done in preserving our culture," said national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons, calling them "senseless cuts".
Fleur Fitzsimons. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"We're concerned that the Te Ara encyclopedia won't be able to be maintained."
Te Ara was established in 2001.
The pressure remained on at the ministry, the document made clear. Leauanae calculated it needed to find $3m in savings this year.
"To enable Manatū Taonga to adjust to our new financial position, I have made decisions to disestablish a number of positions. Decisions in this document confirm our functional shift away from content creation and programme delivery.
"My preferred option will be the transfer of products or programmes, but alternatives may include the decommissioning or stopping of these programmes as a last resort."
The reduced budget left the ministry unable to keep specialised positions in digital production and editing.
As for cutting historians, "feedback received was not in support of removing any historian roles noting the uniqueness of the positions and their importance in maintaining and developing the taonga". But it was not feasible to keep them all on.
However, a U-turn was made on proposal to cut the role of solicitor, which would now be retained.
"Feedback was clear that demands on the legal team will only increase with the impacts of the Regulatory Standards Bill on our legislative modernisation work programme" among other things.
The aim was to have the new structure in place by the middle of September.
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