TVNZ directors turn down Govt’s 41% fee increases – for now

TVNZ’s board has come under pressure over directors’ fee increases on the very same day they broke news to staff of 50 more proposed redundancies.
Newsroom reported on Friday morning that the Government was stepping up TVNZ chair Alastair Carruthers’ fees from $107,400, as it is now, to $151,440 in 2026.
The fees of directors Linda Clark, Meg Matthews, Aliesha Staples and John Quirk would rise from $53,700 to $75,720 for their part-time roles. Ripeka Evans, as deputy chair, would get a little more.
Minister for State Owned Enterprises Paul Goldsmith had said the first step of fee increases for directors of 22 Crown companies would take effect in less than two months’ time, on January 1, 2025.
He agreed his announcement was uncomfortable timing for TVNZ, as it lays off staff – and its directors might make their own decision on whether to accept the fees increase.
“That’s ultimately a matter for them,” he tells Newsroom. “As a group, Crown company directors are well off-pace in terms of their market value … and that’s why we’re going to take the plunge and do it.”
Newsroom asked whether Carruthers and his board would accept the fee increases. After consulting with the other directors, he replied with an emailed statement on Friday afternoon.
Carruthers says his board won’t immediately accept the pay rises. Not in this 2024/25 fiscal year, at least.
“TVNZ’s board was informed of the Minister’s intention to increase directors fees for Crown-owned companies,” he says.
“TVNZ’s board has discussed this guidance, however, will retain the current fee structure during this financial year.
“The board believes this is appropriate in light of TVNZ’s strategic changes.”
Any decision about taking up the fees increases from July 2025 will be made closer to that date.
E tū union negotiator Michael Wood was previously Minister for Workplace Relations. He’s now representing TVNZ workers threatened with cuts and redundancies.
“At a time when staff at TVNZ and many public organisations are under intense pressure, it seems astonishingly ill-judged for increases of this level to be put forward by the Government,” he says.
“Staff at TVNZ are obviously facing job cuts, but are also now several years into effectively a pay freeze as well, and the Government has declined to provide any practical support to actually ensure that our public broadcaster can function in a time of crisis.
“So to focus its energy and resources on directors’ fees seems enormously out of touch. It’s good news that for now, the directors have declined to take that increase up, and we urge them to focus on securing a proper strategic direction for TVNZ, instead of endless, ever-decreasing cuts.”
The minister argues that it’s important to pay enough to secure good candidates for Crown company boards. That’s a point Wood acknowledges: “It is important to have good quality people in these governance roles. But I think there are two other points of consideration.
“The first is the obvious one, which is that virtually everyone else connected with the broader public sector is being asked to tighten their belts, there’s salary restraight in place, jobs have been lost, and we should be seeing the same approach being taken to those who are at the very top tables across the broader public sector.
“The second point I would make – and this is no disrespect to the people in these roles – but in the majority of cases, this is not the bread and butter job for people in these governance roles. You’re not talking about someone who’s turning up at a factory or a call centre, where this is the only salary that they’ve got.
“Good on them for taking on these roles, and there should be some fairness in the way that they are remunerated for it. But to suggest that it’s the same as an ordinary person going to work and needing to get a pay increase – I don’t think that stands up.”