Public broadcaster's cost-cutting plan draws criticism from PSA, which blames governance failures for loss
RNZ plans to cut the equivalent of 58 full-time roles by the end of March 2027 after reporting an $11.8 million deficit for the 2025/26 financial year, a move the Public Service Association (PSA) says puts public broadcasting at risk.
The public broadcaster set out the job cuts alongside its Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2026, which also commits it to reducing operational costs by at least five per cent.
The deficit is much larger than the forecast deficit of $470,000 in RNZ's Statement of Performance Expectations.
RNZ said internal financial reporting during the year did not accurately reflect its underlying position, meaning corrective action was not taken and the organisation did not reduce its cost base in response to a seven per cent cut in baseline funding.
Personnel expenses came in $3.2 million above budget, including $1.4 million in redundancy payments. Operating expenses were $6.4 million over budget, driven largely by its property disposal programme and the relocation of its Auckland office. RNZ also said $2 million of land sales had been incorrectly accounted for as revenue in its forecast.
'Hard for our people'
Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief Paul Thompson said he accepted responsibility for the result and welcomed an independent review that the Board will commission.
"We must make difficult choices to live within our means, and I recognise those changes will be hard for our people," Thompson said in a statement.
RNZ said any proposed changes affecting employees will be subject to the required employment processes. It is forecasting a further $7.8 million deficit in 2026/27, which it described as a transitional year, before returning to a sustainable level in the following financial year.
The terms of reference for the independent review are still being established, but it is expected to examine the causes of the result, why internal reporting did not reflect RNZ's position, and the adequacy of its financial controls and governance arrangements.
Dr Jim Mather, who chaired the RNZ Board during 2025/26, described the result as extremely disappointing.
"The Board treats all financial matters very seriously and it is clear now that RNZ's internal financial reporting did not reflect its underlying position, limiting the opportunity for effective corrective action during the year," Mather said.
"This is a challenging situation, and I am fully supportive of the plan for an independent review as it will comprehensively examine the adequacy of the reporting, controls and assurance arrangements at RNZ, as well as the respective management and governance responsibilities."
Current Board Chair Brent Impey said the problem was confined to the organisation's finances.
"This is a financial reporting, controls and oversight issue. It does not impact RNZ's journalism or its content for audiences," Impey said.
Union pushback
The PSA, however, questioned that assurance. According to the union, RNZ has a staff of about 340.
"It is hard to see how you reduce staff by one in six and cut operating costs by five percent without affecting what goes to air. RNZ should tell the public how many of these roles are in news and programme-making," PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
Fitzsimons said the loss reflected problems at the top of the organisation rather than among frontline staff.
"That is a failure of financial management and governance at the top of the organisation, not of the journalists, producers and technicians who put RNZ to air every day," she said.
The union called for bridging finance to give RNZ time to put proper financial oversight in place while the independent review is under way, rather than "rushing through cuts before anyone understands what went wrong."
"The right response to a governance failure is to fix the governance, not to cut the workforce," Fitzsimons said.
The PSA also raised questions about the level of ministerial oversight RNZ has received under Paul Goldsmith, whom it described as a minister with ten other portfolios.
"Something has clearly gone wrong at RNZ. We should not respond by punishing RNZ's staff, or cutting the public service broadcasting our democracy relies on," Fitzsimons added.
