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PM Chris Hipkins to put staffing claims to Allan after EU trip
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins intends to speak to Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan in a couple of weeks about recent claims of past disunity with her staff.
He suggests the ongoing media interest is a sign of a higher bar for ministerial behaviour than in the past.
Allan has been under scrutiny after a series of concerns about her relationships with staff were raised in the media.
Department of Conservation Director-General Penny Nelson had said one staff member ended their secondment early and she had raised concerns with Ministerial Services, but no further problems arose and relationships improved.
In answer to an Official Information Act request, National Emergency Management Agency chief executive David Gawn also said he was aware of concerns regarding relationships in Allan’s office, and further action was taken to resolve it.
Late last week, Stuff also reported an anonymous senior public servant as saying the minister had yelled and screamed at staff.
However, clear details about what happened or who was involved remain scant, and Allan has strenuously denied ever facing serious allegations from staff or ever shouting at staff. Speaking at a select committee last week, she accused National MPs of a “fishing exercise” and challenged them to put to her any concerns about her being able to perform her duties.
Allan was defiant over year-old claims about her relationships with staff, during select committee last week. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was on a trade trip to China during the week, but repeatedly stressed no formal complaints had been laid and “in every ministerial office, from time to time, there’ll be periods of heightened tension” but he had not had a chance to speak with her directly and at length about the matter.
Speaking after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday, Hipkins said he had spoken to Allan briefly but still had yet to traverse the matter – he intended to do that after Parliament’s recess.
“I’ve indicated to Kiri that we’ll have a catch-up when I get back from Europe which will be in a couple of weeks time. I’ve suggested to her that she take a couple of weeks off and she’s going to be doing that,” Hipkins said.
“Kiri had a rough couple of weeks and I think it would be good for her to take some time off, she’s indicated that she would like to take some time off, it’s school holidays, and I think that would be a good thing.
“Generally speaking when any minister has been the subject of intense scrutiny, as Kiri has been in the past few weeks, I would encourage them to take a bit of a breath and that’s what I’m doing here.”
Allan was also on leave last week, due to her mental health – relating to a mix of personal circumstances and external pressures like the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle in her region – until she returned to Parliament on Thursday.
After Hipkins’ comments on Monday however, she posted on social media to clarify her new leave was not because of her mental health.
“I’m not on ‘mental health leave again’,” she wrote, rejecting the characterisation from reporters.
The tweets Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan posted after Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ comments during the post-Cabinet media briefing on Monday. Photo: Twitter / Screenshot
“I’ll take a couple of days off over school holidays because each parent has to as we don’t have others that can take care of our kid. Please stop conflating my MH with external allegations.”
Hipkins said Allan was an “exceptionally talented minister who has contributed an awful lot to our government”, and in the first instance he planned to speak to her about it.
However, he twice refused to directly answer whether he still had confidence in Allan.
“Look, as I’ve said, we’re going to catch up and have a good chat about where everything’s at when I get back from Europe, which will be Friday next week,” he said.
He said he took accusations about ministerial conduct very seriously, but did not see the need for an independent inquiry.
“I’ve been very clear with ministers in the time that I’ve been prime minister that my expectation is that all ministers will treat departmental officials [and] the staff working in their office with respect.
“The feedback that I’ve had from the senior levels of the public service is that the … relevant chief executives are satisfied that any issues that were raised informally were resolved at the time.
“Where issues are raised informally and the people who have dealt with them have said that they feel they’ve been dealt with satisfactorily, I don’t see the need for there to be a separate layer of inquiry on top of that.”
He said some people were clearly raising concerns publicly that had not been raised within their organisations.
“It’s difficult to form a judgement on that without knowing why,” he said.
“I don’t expect ministers to be absolutely perfect human beings, everybody will have a bad day from time to time – particularly when they’re under pressure. The question is what do you then do about that.”
He suggested it was a sign of the changing culture at Parliament, in part following the Debbie Francis review.
“I think what it does point to is that there has been a change of culture around this place in the last couple of years which in my mind is a good thing.
“As a former opposition member I can tell you that allegations of this nature flew around the place all of the time in the whole nine years I was in opposition and none of them ever made it into the public domain – I’m talking about of ministers in the previous government. I think it’s good there is more openness and willingness to talk about that.
“Parliament as a workplace did need to change, and the fact the threshold is now higher is a good thing.”
SOURCE RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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