‘Chaos’ at Callaghan Innovation as Government delays dissolution plan
Friday, 12 June 2026
The 176 science workers still at Callaghan Innovation are “in chaos” after the Government failed to follow through on its plan, announced 17 months ago, to dissolve the agency and transfer its functions, the Public Service Association says.
Former science minister Shane Reti announced in January last year that Callaghan Innovation would be wound up by the end of this month.
But PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the legislation to do that had not yet been introduced to Parliament, leaving the workers “with no idea what their future holds”.
Callaghan shed more than 100 staff after the original decision to dissolve the Crown entity.
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Eighty of the remaining 176 staff had been told they would be transferred to other agencies - including the Bioeconomy Science Institute, Earth Sciences NZ, MBIE, and the new Advanced Technology Institute - by next month.
But those transfers now appeared to be delayed.
The Government allocated $28 million in the Budget to keep Callaghan running in the new financial year, which starts next month, but 96 staff were still waiting to learn whether they would have jobs, Fitzsimons said.
“This is a fiasco of the Government’s own making.
“These are skilled science workers and researchers who have given years of service. The longer this drags on, the more of them will vote with their feet and leave for countries that actually value what they do.”
Penny Simmonds, who was appointed Science, Innovation and Technology Minister in April, said the Government had a busy legislative agenda and limited House time available.
“However, progressing this legislation remains a priority for me, and I will continue to work with colleagues to move it through the House as soon as practicable,” she said.
“Some functions and staff have already transferred out of Callaghan Innovation and the responsible organisations continue to work through the remaining transfers. I acknowledge the uncertainty this creates for staff involved and appreciate their ongoing professionalism during this transition,” she said.
Fitzsimons said the situation boded ill for the Government’s plan to cut 8700 public service jobs over the next four years.
“If it can’t manage the disestablishment of a single agency with 18 months’ notice, what does that tell you about its ability to deliver anything,” she said.
Physicist Ben Wylie-van Eerd, who was made redundant from Callaghan in June last year and now works at Victoria University’s Robinson Research Institute in Lower Hutt, said he knew “four or five” scientists who had left for overseas since the announcement of Callaghan’s planned dissolution.
He suspected the actual number would be much higher, as those were just people in his personal network. A few others he knew had yet to find work in their fields of expertise.
Wylie-van Eerd has been selected as a candidate for the Opportunity Party at the November election.
He said he was disappointed the Government had gone ahead with the proposal to dissolve Callaghan “without being organised on the legislative side of things”.
“It doesn't seem exactly fair to ask the staff to carry the biggest burden on this, but I think it shows that science is just not a priority for them, which I think is a real shame.”