Despite recently terminating an agreement to endorse a range of spa pools, Dame Susan Devoy continues to find herself in turbulent hot water.
Her appointment as race relations commissioner has raised a lot of questions and criticism one month into the five-year role, but on a positive note her selection has done wonders for public awareness of an otherwise nondescript position in the Human Rights Commission.
What was the Government thinking when it appointed a person with very little experience in race-related issues? What are the skills considered necessary to fulfil this role effectively? Do you have to be a high-profile sportsperson to get this job?
Dame Susan must get annoyed when she is referred to as a former world squash champion all the time, as if that is the only thing she has accomplished. She has raised four boys, she has a lot of experience in various governance and executive roles, and has done a lot of com-munity work, as evidenced by her being the youngest New Zealander since Sir Edmund Hillary to receive a title.
She has also been highly active with charity work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, has been a longstanding member of the Halberg Trust, and appeared in a commercial to counter the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
On race-related issues, however, her experience seems limited and her opinions polarising. Is that what we need in a race relations commissioner?Although the previous commissioner was responsible for cultural diversity, religion and belief, right to language and culture, migrants, refugees and right to work, accommodating religion and migrant workers, in addition to his responsibilities as Race Relations Commissioner, the spheres of human rights responsibility for Dame Susan may differ.
Based on her past experiences and skill-set, if she was appointed disability rights commissioner rather than race relations commissioner, no-one would bat an eyelid.
There has been a Race Relations Office since 1971, and in 2002 this office merged with the Human Rights Commission, and the position of race relations conciliator changed to commissioner, although people still do tend to use both terms interchangeably.
To ''conciliate'' means to overcome distrust or animosity, to appease, to regain or try to regain friendship and goodwill by pleasant behaviour, and to make or attempt to make compatible; reconcile.
Having worked alongside Dame Susan as part of the Government task force reviewing sport and recreation, I can report she is not really the diplomatic type.
You do not become a world champion four times, raise four boys close in age, and hang out with a predominantly male crowd on sport governing bodies without being tough, having strong opinions and voicing your perspective unapologetically.
I respect her for what she has achieved, but I would not really call her a conciliator, though she would be a perfect commissioner. A commissioner is a person authorised by a commission to perform certain duties; a government official in charge of a department.
In other words, the National Party has put a straight-talking, right-swinging individual in to fulfil a role it has wanted to get rid of since February last year.
By appointing a sportsperson, the Government was hoping to appease the masses, but in this role, Dame Susan's antagonising personal opinions regarding race-related issues such as the Treaty of Waitangi and the burqa will have to be edited, measured and well-considered.
For someone used to thinking fast on her feet and being judged by her actions rather than her words, holding back a little might be asking too much.
Having worked with her, however, I know that her heart is in the right place even if her mouth sometimes gets the better of her, so I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt and see if she cannot play her way out of this corner.
