Te Papa backs down over fish expert redundancy

Monday, 8 April 2019

Te Papa has backed down from plans to axe fish expert Andrew Stewart, offering him a new job.

Critics say the u-turn shows the restructure was unnecessary and heads should roll over the saga.

The museum faced a global backlash over its controversial restructure, which made Stewart and mollusc expert Bruce Marshall redundant.

International fish experts rallied to support axed Te Papa fish collection manager Andrew Stewart, who has now been offered a new job.

Fifty international fish scientists signed a petition opposing the 'unwise' restructure and Stewart's removal and others threatened to boycott Te Papa if the museum failed to reinstate him.

**READ MORE:

Correspondence reveals the minister responsible for Te Papa, Grant Robertson, met with the museum's chairman Evan Williams (pictured) on March 28 to discuss his concerns.

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* Te Papa seeking mollusc specialist after axing world-leading expert

International fish experts told Te Papa its restructure was unwise and would compromise the care of its collections.

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* Te Papa restructure risks loss of irreplaceable science expertise - critics

Te Papa wanted to use this photo of Himantolophus stewarti, a deep sea fish named in honour of the museum's axed fish collection manager Andrew Stewart. The scientist photographer said no, and called on his international colleagues to do the same.

* Te Papa slammed by 30 international experts over restructure making scientists redundant**

Following the national and international pressure and a legal challenge, Stuff understands Stewart has been offered the new job of assistant curator, which he had previously applied for without success. Neither Te Papa nor Stewart would comment on the job offer.

Te Papa has advertised for a new mollusc researcher, despite having just got rid of world-leading molluscs expert Bruce Marshall.

At present, Marshall has still lost his job, despite the museum advertising for a mollusc curator.

Otago University ancient DNA lecturer Nic Rawlence, who led a campaign against the restructure, congratulated Te Papa 'for finally doing the right thing'.

'But it should never have come to this …This is a massive backdown and defeat for Te Papa that shows their justification for getting rid of Bruce and Andrew had no legal standing and it comes down to personality politics.'

Heads should roll among the decision makers, Rawlence said. He wanted to also see Marshall appointed mollusc curator, with an assistant curator drawn from the curator job applicants, who could learn from him and fill the gap when he retired.

'It goes to show this entire restructure was just not necessary. A phased retirement plan would have been so much easier.'

Te Papa has argued the restructure modernised its curation structure and created a career pathway for new scientists.

Giant squid researcher Steve O'Shea was so appalled by plans to remove Marshall, who had been a mentor and 'constant inspiration', he wrote to Te Papa asking it to remove any reference to him in the museum's colossal squid display. He also launched a petition calling for a moratorium on further staff restructuring.

O'Shea said Stewart's job offer was wonderful news: 'It is definitely a win for the little guy, but such a shame that it took a legal challenge to right what was so clearly a wrong.'

However, the museum should undertake an independent audit to identify the people and policies that enabled such 'poor decisions' to be made in the first place, to prevent it happening again, O'Shea said. He hoped Marshall would also be given a stay of execution.

'It may come down to his mounting a legal challenge to preserve his job also. If he does so, given Andrew's precedent, it seems highly likely that he would win. Given this, one would hope that persons in positions of authority at Te Papa would exercise basic common sense and withdraw the current advertisement for a curator of invertebrates.'

A Te Papa spokesperson said they could not comment on any job negotiations. 'Te Papa is working to find the best possible outcome. We are doing so in good faith and in a confidential process. It's not appropriate for us to comment any further while that process is underway.'