Yesterday afternoon, I contacted almost every real estate agent in the country (there’s about 15,000), calling on them to push back against ideological imposition by the Real Estate Authority.
You can read what I said to them below, as I invited them to stand with their colleague, Janet Dickson, and call out educational requirements that have nothing to do with professional competency and everything to do with ideological compulsion.
Increasingly, professional regulators are using the large sticks governments have placed in their hands to beat down on those that disagree with them — not on questions of confidence for consumers or professionalism for practitioners, but on contested political positions.
It’s the antithesis of how government-mandated outfits should lead their sectors, and we’re pushing back.
When it does go through, it will be the first in a series of laws that will see our professional sectors liberated from overbearing regulators, who are more interested in practitioners’ political beliefs than professional competency.
This is what taking the fight to the institutions must look like, if these institutions have turned their backs on the values and people they were created to care for.
Thanks for your support,
 |  Jonathan Ayling Chief Executive Free Speech Union www.fsu.nz |
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What do thirty years of experience selling real estate, an unblemished record, and the respect of your colleagues count for these days?
Not a lot, according to the Real Estate Authority of New Zealand.
I am writing to you regarding the recent case before the High Court of Janet Dickson, a Howick-based realtor formerly employed by Harcourts.
Janet’s principled stand against ideological imposition strikes to the heart of what it means to be a professional in any discipline, and I’m writing to inform you about steps we have taken to protect your right to speak and think freely.
Ordinarily, facing punishment for refusing to toe the line when it comes to professional certification is a relative no-brainer. Professional standards need to be maintained in order to prove proficiency and relevant knowledge are observed.
Clearly, it is beyond dispute that people need to be properly informed and competent in their relevant line of work.
But what if some of that training has nothing to do with the necessary and proper execution of your professional responsibilities?
What if members’ diverse opinions and ideas on issues outside your day-to-day role are disregarded in favour of a centrally imposed one?
Janet believes that the REA’s requirement to complete training in issues entirely beyond her duty as a Real Estate agent is closer to indoctrination on contested values than it is about making the public ‘safe’.
At the Free Speech Union, we don’t ask you to necessarily agree or disagree with others. We ask you to be willing to stand for the right to voice perspectives that differ from others, and not be villanised for it.
Objections on the basis of conscience and free expression mean that Janet has been refused renewal of her practising licence. Even if she recants (which she won’t because of her firm belief that supposedly impartial professional bodies shouldn’t meddle in matters outside their specialist domain), she will still be subject to an automatic ban of five years from the real estate profession by the REA.
Janet is now denied a livelihood. Listen to our podcast interview with her here.
The Free Speech Union is calling on real estate agents across New Zealand to lend their voices in support of Janet’s case.
<<<Sign our public letter to the Minister now>>>
Her case in its essence isn’t actually about the Treaty Principles debate or race relations or political parties, but rather the insistence by professional bodies that its members swallow hook, line and sinker a certain stance on social, political, cultural or religious issues.
The Real Estate Agents (Political Neutrality) Amendment Bill 2024, if passed by Parliament, will go a long way to stopping the increasingly absurd ideological requirements professional regulatory bodies have found themselves weighing in on.
The Bill will restore the focus on what these authorities are supposed to be about – getting the job done, helping people buy and sell their homes in a professional and efficient manner. More energy dedicated to achieving those standards instead of some official’s particular pet project will be win for the consumer, the industry and the real estate profession at large.
Support this campaign by reading and signing our public letter to the Government here.
Whether Janet’s case helps move the dial in a legal sense depends a lot on your support. You don’t have to agree with her specific views or beliefs. But that’s the whole point.
Janet’s principled stand has cost her a lot. But one thing she hasn’t sacrificed is her conscience. Her case will help others, but a single person, no matter how brave, can’t achieve change alone.
This is where you can make a difference.
Join us now in supporting Janet’s fight to keep professional bodies politically neutral.
| Jonathan Ayling Chief Executive Free Speech Union www.fsu.nz |
P.S. Professional regulations are about ensuring quality practice and confidence for the consumer; not about imposing ideological instruction.
Join your voice now in signing our letter to the Associate Minister of Justice, responsible for the REA, calling on her to adopt the The Real Estate Agents (Political Neutrality) Amendment Bill 2024.
I would be interested in learning more about this, particularly as it pertains to the GST classification of asking prices for residential properties.