Kiri Allan won't return as minister if Labour wins election

Former Justice Minister Kiri Allan and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Parliament last week. NZ Herald picture

by Michael Neilson, NZ Herald

Kiri Allan will not be a minister if Labour wins the next election after her late-night Wellington car crash and arrest.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is rejecting claims Labour’s re-election hopes are in tatters after yesterday losing his fourth minister for misbehaving in less than four months.

Hipkins has not yet had a proper talk with her about her future as an MP, but he told TVNZ she would not be returning as a minister.

Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast he was not depressed at all despite having a “not great couple of weeks”.

”It certainly has been an incredibly challenging start to the year.”

Allan crashed her car at 9pm on Sunday and was charged by police with careless use of a motor vehicle and failure to accompany a police officer. She was issued an infringement notice for having excess breath alcohol.

Allan subsequently resigned her ministerial warrants and is now taking time off with whānau at home in Gisborne.

Only a few hours later Hipkins announced his fourth reshuffle of portfolios after losing four ministers since becoming Prime Minister in January - including Stuart Nash, Meka Whaitiri and Michael Wood. Adding former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes five ministers to leave the Government this year.

Allan, who is also the MP for East Coast, had returned to Parliament only last week after facing allegations about her workplace behaviour and personal struggles that affected her mental health.

A resident who lives near the scene of the crash told The New Zealand Herald he heard a loud bang.

”It was a good thump. I mean, it pushed the ute forward about 3m.”

The impact left Allan’s car “perpendicular” to the road and blocking one lane, he said.

“She was in the car at the time . . . but there were people around sort of talking to her.

”Then all of a sudden there were lots of cop cars.”

The day has been a bit surreal, he said.

”The main thing is that she’s looked after. Obviously, she wasn’t in the best state of mind.”

Allan has never shied away from her mental health struggles, including after she returned to Parliament following chemotherapy for cervical cancer in 2021 and when speaking about her own experience as a teenager with gay conversion therapy through her church.

She was also known as one of the hardest workers in the Labour Government, taking on the Justice Minster role at a critical time and being widely praised for her handling of the March 2021 tsunami warnings as Emergency Management Response Minister, having received her cancer diagnosis the same day.

She was seen as a rising star within the party and even tipped by some as future Prime Minister material. But she came under increasing scrutiny this year, including her controversial comments about RNZ and allegations of poor workplace behaviour from the year before surfacing, along with major events in her personal life including splitting with her fiancee.

Hipkins said Allan had good support around her, was getting professional counselling and received workplace coaching. He said he believed she had been supported well all through her time in Parliament, including balancing her workload.

“She was very passionate about returning to work,” said Hipkins, adding he did not “compel her” and even encouraged her to take more time off if needed.

Allan appeared energetic in her first week back and, in Hipkins’ own words, “on top of her game” during a law and order policy announcement and Question Time. Hipkins said he told her so and had even spoken to her on Sunday morning about working on other issues in the justice space.

But there was another issue in her personal life that occurred on Sunday, which left her in “extreme emotional distress” at the time of the incident that night.

Hipkins said he did not know the exact details of the new incident but believed Allan had been offered as much support as was possible, and rejected any suggestion she had been pushed back into work too soon.

He said his immediate concerns after the accident were for her welfare.

“I’m very sad for Kiri. Kiri is an incredibly talented person who clearly has been battling some demons and has not won that battle.”

Allan has not commented publicly other than a written statement in which she apologised.

She said she had faced a number of personal difficulties in recent weeks and had taken time off to address them. She believed she was okay to juggle them and the pressures of being a minister.

“My actions yesterday show I wasn’t okay, and I’ve let myself and my colleagues down,” Allan said.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon said his party’s thoughts were with Allan and he hoped she would be getting all the support she needed.

But he also took a dig at Hipkins and the Government over “another week of discussing drama and personnel issues from the Labour Government” and added he didn’t believe Allan should have returned to work given her mental health situation.

“It’s a Labour Government, and it’s not focused on the New Zealand people, and the New Zealand people deserve better than this.”

He said he felt for Hipkins too but could not understand how as a leader he would allow these issues to continue.

“There’s something going wrong in the culture and the leadership of that Cabinet group.”

In what is already proving to be an incredibly tight election race, Hipkins said he felt Labour could still overcome the recent ministerial challenges and turmoil.

“We’re just getting started with the campaign ... just watch me,” he said.

Hipkins said of his reshuffle he did not want to create new Cabinet ministers this close to the election, his reasoning being that there would be reshuffles in any new Government after the election and it was too much work for MPs who were also getting into campaign mode.

Instead, Hipkins said he looked to combine portfolios where there was a crossover, giving Justice to Police Minister Ginny Andersen and Regional Development to Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty. Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson would take over the lead co-ordination role for Tairāwhiti.

There was also a small surprise in David Parker giving up his Revenue portfolio to focus on Transport, which Hipkins tried to downplay as a common occurrence for existing ministers during reshuffles.

But the move also happened to come just two weeks after Hipkins personally killed plans for a wealth and capital gains tax — which Parker himself had been working on and was publicly disappointed about. Internal Affairs and Pacific Peoples Minister Barbara Edmonds will take on the Revenue portfolio.

Ministers misbehaving in 2023

⋅ Stuart Nash — Sacked on March 28 after revelations he had given confidential Cabinet information to donors. On March 15 Nash had resigned as Police Minister after saying he called the Police Commissioner to discuss appealing a court case.

⋅ Meka Whaitiri — Sacked on May 3 after defecting to Te Pāti Māori. Whaitiri never told Hipkins personally she had quit.

⋅ Michael Wood — Resigned on June 21 after revealing he held multiple shares which had been inappropriately declared. On June 7 he was suspended from his transport portfolio after his shareholding in Auckland Airport was revealed by the Herald. Recently referred to the privileges committee after an inquiry raised concerns over his conduct.

⋅ Kiri Allan — Resigned as Justice Minister on July 24 after being arrested for careless driving and refusing to accompany police when she crashed her car the previous evening. Allan had also been issued an infringement notice for having excess breath alcohol. She had the previous week returned to work facing allegations about her workplace behaviour and personal struggles that affected her mental health.