Why Stuart Nash had to go and what comes next
Nash’s career is over after being sacked by the prime minister but questions about outsider access to cabinet decisions and perceptions of influence remain
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, March 29, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: New Zealand in discussions to join Aukus alliance; so-called “parent tax” will be scrapped from July; Hawkes Bay residents want funds raised by Red Cross for cyclone recovery distributed faster; but first, sacking Stuart Nash is unlikely to end questions about access to cabinet ministers and potential lobbying by donors
Stuart Nash and prime minister Chris Hipkins
The last straw
Stuart Nash was sacked last night from all his remaining ministerial portfolios. An email obtained by Stuff revealed Stuart Nash emailed two business figures detailing disagreements among ministers in 2020 when cabinet was debating a commercial rent relief package. Nash was small business minister at the time. It was a clear breach of the cabinet manual which states “discussion at cabinet and cabinet committee meetings is informal and confidential”. Nash was already on his final warning for previously breaching the cabinet manual. Hipkins was made aware of the email at 5pm last night, spoke to Nash, the cabinet office, notified the Governor General and by 7pm was on the tiles at parliament to confirm he had rejected Nash’s offer to resign and had sacked him as a minister. Hipkins also revealed last night that the business figures Nash emailed were donors to Nash’s campaign but was quick to say neither of them had done anything wrong.
David Seymour: “he’s just unbelievably hapless.”
This morning, Stuff’s Luke Malpass paints Nash not as a crook, but as something of a hapless figure who just didn't know the rules. Malpass quotes Act party leader David Seymour who said “I'm just reflecting a bit more in sorrow than anger that you've got this guy who – I've known Stuart for 10 years or so – he's not a malicious person, but he's just unbelievably hapless. There's much worse people who are actually malicious, venal and deceitful. He's not any of those things. He just doesn't know the rules.”
No byelection
Seymour was more reflective and pragmatic than National leader Christopher Luxon last night. Luxon called on Nash to resign from Parliament immediately, triggering a byelection. Luxon said the “crime” was “akin to insider trading”. Asked whether Luxon’s demand was hypocritical given National’s criticism of government spending, Seymour said his concern “was less about the roughly $1.2m needed for a byelection but the time it would take given the proximity of the general election.” A byelection would only be triggered if Nash didn’t vacate his seat within six months of a general election. RNZ asked Nash “if he planned on sticking around in the Napier seat” last night. He replied, confirming he would and that there would be no byelection.
Issue not done and dusted for Hipkins
Megan Woods, David Parker and Meka Whaitiri will pick up Nash’s portfolios until permanent replacements can be found. As the Herald’s Claire Trevett explains (paywalled), the issue won't be done and dusted. A probe into whether there were further incidents of those outside the cabinet having access to information on cabinet decisions should be done and “the public also needs to be assured that ministers aren’t lobbying for their mates or donors around the cabinet table.” Newsroom’s Jo Moir agrees saying that it’s highly likely some sort of wider investigation will be needed to ensure there haven’t been any other situations where confidential cabinet information has been leaked and used for personal gain. “The problem for the prime minister is that the sacking doesn’t erase those perceptions of influence, and it is unclear how many other instances of similar behaviour there may have been in the five years Nash had been a minister,” she writes.
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Defence minister confirms New Zealand is discussing joining Aukus alliance
Defence minister Andrew Little has confirmed that New Zealand is discussing joining the non-nuclear part of the Aukus alliance founded by Australia, the UK and the US. Little said New Zealand had been “offered the opportunity to talk about whether we could or wish to participate in that pillar two [non-nuclear] aspect of it,” and that he has indicated “we will be willing to explore it.” As Stuff’s Thomas Manch reported, Little has so far indicated that joining the “second pillar” would involve defence technologies “associated” with the nuclear-powered submarines. The Albanese government is currently facing questions from Australia's union movement who have criticised plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus partnership. Cook Islands prime minister and chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, Mark Brown, joined a growing list of Pacific leaders who object to the multi-billion dollar nuclear submarine deal yesterday, saying it was “going against” the Pacific nuclear free treaty.
So-called “parent tax” scrapped
From July, the government will stop holding onto about $150m each year of child support payments. The IRD has been intercepting money from 41,000 parents who aren’t the primary caregivers of their children and holding onto it. Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern promised to scrap the so-called “parent tax” last year and the legislation required to make the change was introduced yesterday. The government says the change could lift up to 14,000 children out of poverty. Prime minister Chris Hipkins estimated that 41,000 parents would, on average, be better off by $20 a week as a result. The former Children’s Commissioner, Andrew Becroft, has previously labelled the rule as “miserable” and illogical.
A message from Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman
You're reading this because you value the work The Spinoff does in telling the stories of our people in our voices. As we head further into an already eventful 2023, we have a big job ahead of us. Covering the stories that matter to you is no small job. We’re a fiercely independent media company in Aotearoa but that also means we’re small and I think sometimes people forget how small our team is. I'm asking you to consider deepening your commitment to The Spinoff and the work we do by becoming a Spinoff Member. If you’re already a member, thank you for your support and advocacy - it's what keeps us going.
Hawkes Bay residents want to know where the Red Cross is at
As Newsroom’s Matthew Scott reports, the Red Cross New Zealand Disaster Fund has collected almost $18m in the past six weeks. Almost $2m of that has been spent on a range of cyclone recovery initiatives and the Red Cross announced a further $1.1m contribution this week to go towards house recovery in Wairoa. The charity has also put 5000 hours of work into the recovery effort. But Hawkes Bay residents are asking why distributing the money is taking so long as they “shovel toxic silt one spadeful at a time”. Chloe Johnson, the volunteer coordinator behind the Cyclone Hawkes Bay Help page, says “There's a desperate need for financial aid, and it's available - it’s just not being distributed.”
Click and collect
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Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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