The Nursing Council of New Zealand exists to uphold the highest standards of professional ethics, safety, and workplace dignity. It is unacceptable for our regulatory body to be led by a Chairperson who has been legally censured by a High Court for severe workplace bullying, premeditated victimization, and violating an employee's constitutional right to dignity.

Retaining Sharon Brownie compromises the integrity of the entire nursing profession and obliterates public trust. We demand immediate accountability.

As nurses, our entire profession is bound by a strict Code of Conduct that demands we treat colleagues with respect, protect human dignity, and maintain professional boundaries. TO ACT PROFESSIONALLY AND RESPECTFULLY EVEN WHEN NOBODY IS LOOKING. ESPECIALLY WHEN NOBODY IS LOOKING. The Chairperson of the Nursing Council sits at the absolute apex of this system—holding the power to discipline, suspend, or strip frontline nurses of their practicing certificates for behavioural and ethical breaches.

Sharon Brownie lacks the moral ascendancy required to lead this authority.
How is it acceptable for someone to enforce a Code of Conduct upon thousands of NZ nurses when she has been legally proven to have completely violated those exact same principles? Leadership requires moral authority, not just a ministerial appointment. A Chairperson whose own recorded conduct stands as a textbook definition of workplace bullying cannot legitimately sit in judgment of others.
 
The Evidence (From High Court Case Cause 1437 of 2018):

Kenya Law: Mwala v Aga Khan University

In August 2023, Judge Stella Rutto of the Employment and Labour Relations Court of Kenya delivered a damning judgment against the actions of Professor Sharon Brownie. The official court record exposes an explicit, malicious pattern of behavior:
Premeditated Ouster: Internal emails show that Professor Brownie and an HR executive actively plotted to terminate an exemplary employee months before any disciplinary process even began. The HR executive wrote: "Let's just start to figure out how to remove her, the right way... She will sue, but... what’s another?".
Humiliating Conduct: In an email dated December 16, 2015, Professor Brownie wrote of her assistant: "Yep agree. She puffs up like those bullfrogs and its intended to frighten so people back down...".
Judicial Condemnation: Judge Rutto explicitly ruled that the communication from Brownie was "derogatory, contemptuous, insulting and humiliating," and that the termination "had nothing to do with misconduct on her part.".
Constitutional Violations: The court ruled that Brownie’s actions directly "infringed on the Claimant’s Constitutional right to have her dignity respected and protected," ordering millions in damages.
 
The Ministry of Health’s appointment process failed to detect this severe judicial censure. It is completely untenable for a leader legally proven to have stripped a subordinate of their dignity to hold the highest disciplinary and regulatory power over New Zealand nurses.
 

By signing this petition, you are supporting the call for leadership that truly represents the interests of New Zealand nurses and ensures that our healthcare system is both resilient and responsive to the needs of those who depend on it. Please join me in urging the responsible authorities to take immediate action for the betterment of our profession and the well-being of our community.

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The Minister of Health must remove her from her regulatory post, or Sharon Brownie must have the decency to resign.