Underfire Labour minister Stuart Nash isn’t letting his sense of humour be dampened by the Prime Minister placing him on a final warning and being demoted to the last Cabinet ranking.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Nash issued what appeared to be among his first public comments regarding his demotion while celebrating his daughter Sophia’s success at the Hawke’s Bay lawn tennis senior championship.
“Well, at least one of the Nashes has had a good week!!” Nash joked.
Nash has refused media interviews following Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ announcement that the Napier MP was on his final warning in light of his breaches of the Cabinet manual through inappropriate comments.
The controversy began on Wednesday when Stuart Nash, appearing on Newstalk ZB, said he had contacted Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in 2021 to question whether police would appeal a court decision he felt was not tough enough.
The case concerned a man that had been charged with firearms offences getting home detention. Nash had formerly been the police minister but was not at the time of the call.
Nash on Wednesday questioned the judge’s decision and said the judiciary needed to “read the room” on crime.
Confronted by reporters about his comments later on Wednesday, Nash doubled-down and said he’d simply been “chewing the fat” with his “mate” Coster. He also defended his comments about the judge’s decision.
The Cabinet Manual, a document that outlines how ministers should act, states that ministers should not “express any views that are likely to be publicised if they could be regarded as reflecting adversely on the impartiality, personal views, or ability of any judge.
“Following a long-established principle, Ministers do not comment on or involve themselves in the investigation of offences or the decision as to whether a person should be prosecuted, or on what charge.”
The Act Party was the first to call for Nash’s resignation. National joined that call upon hearing of Nash’s second round of comments.
That resulted in Nash resigning as Police Minister, an action Hipkins said he would have enforced had Nash not voluntarily resigned as he did.
Hipkins described Nash’s comments as a “serious error of judgement” but confirmed he would remain in his other portfolios: economic development, oceans and fisheries, forestry and regional lead of the cyclone response for Hawke’s Bay.
The following day, Newstalk ZB revealed the Solicitor-General had considered prosecuting Nash for contempt over public comments he made after the arrest of Eli Epiha in the case of the killing of Police Constable Matthew Hunt.
Hipkins continued to back Nash, saying the incident was historical, but Hipkins then revealed on Friday he had become aware of a third incident which involved Nash approaching a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment official about an immigration case involving a health professional.
While Hipkins was confident there was no personal gain for Nash regarding this incident, Nash “did not use the established process for ministers and MPs to advocate in an immigration case.
“Having considered the thresholds used by previous Prime Ministers, I have decided the appropriate penalty is to demote Stuart Nash and place him on a final warning,” Hipkins said.
It meant Nash dropped from 11 to 20 on the party list.
“This demotion reflects both his poor judgment on process and his failure to alert me to these past instances,” Hipkins said.
“I have repeated that point to him and made clear that any further lapses will result in his dismissal as a minister.
“As I have said his actions reflect poor judgment, but the specifics of each incident do not warrant dismissal.”