Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has made Police Minister Ginny Andersen the new Justice Minister and Kieran McAnulty will become the Regional Development Minister in light of Kiri Allan’s resignation after her arrest last night.
Allan is heading home to reconsider her future in politics having been charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany police after crashing her car in Wellington about 9pm yesterday.
Hipkins, speaking at a post-Cabinet press conference, said he felt he had handled Allan’s mental health struggles fairly and would never judge her for it or let it impact her job unnecessarily.
He confirmed he hadn’t spoken with Allan again after their conversation earlier today.
Asked if he knew if Allan left the scene of the crash without police, Hipkins said he “couldn’t say for certain what happened last night”.
Hipkins referenced several times how he doesn’t want to disrupt the police investigation into Allan’s crash by making comments about the circumstances of last night’s incident and as such, would be leaving it to police.
Hipkins said he’d made sure Allan had received support when she had taken earlier leave, and then met with her.
“I did not compel her to stay away from work.”
Hipkins said he’d had a conversation with Allan after her press conference last week, saying to her that she had done well. It was his understanding there were further events in Allan’s life later that day that had impacted her mental health.
Hipkins said he didn’t know the details of the “other things going on” in Allan’s life.
He accepted it was “incredibly difficult” to deal with matters concerning mental health and was working hard to support Allan and said he’d been open to feedback.
On one level he was proud of Allan for speaking out, but noted her behaviour last night was not acceptable.
On Allan’s local role as MP for East Coast, Hipkins said he hadn’t had the discussion with Allan on that yet but said it would be something he’d want to finalise soon.
In other ministerial moves, Hipkins also revealed David Parker has requested to be relieved of his revenue portfolio to focus on transport.
He became Transport Minister after Michael Wood was demoted.
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds will take over revenue and become a finance associate minister.
Damien O’Connor picks up an associate transport role to support Parker.
Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson will take over Allan’s role overseeing the cyclone recovery of the Tairāwhiti region.
Hipkins confirmed he had decided not to bring anyone else into Cabinet, saying ministers had a “fair and manageable” workload with five sitting weeks to go before the campaign.
Hipkins said Andersen had been a strong performer in the justice space and the aligning of police and justice would help her progress the Government’s law and order policies announced last week.
He defended his actions with poor-performing ministers - such as Michael Wood and Stuart Nash - saying he liked to think he made decisions based on facts and evidence and were warranted at the time they were made.
On the combination of the justice and police portfolios, Hipkins said it had happened before with Annette King in Helen Clark’s government. He accepted there were aspects of conflict but that would be handled by delegating those matters to associates. Dr Deborah Russell will pick up any conflict areas.
Hipkins still believed Labour had a chance of winning the election and said the campaign was just beginning. He said it was premature to consider whether this was the moment Labour could have lost the election, when that was put to him.
Allan offered her resignation to Hipkins this morning. The PM, speaking at an urgent but brief press conference at 10am, said he would confirm who would take on Allan’s main portfolios of justice and regional development.
He had already stated his preference not to bring anyone new into Cabinet but spread the workload across existing ministers.
Hipkins this morning felt it inappropriate to discuss the wider implications of Allan’s resignation regarding Labour’s chances in this year’s election, but suggested he would respond at the post-Cabinet press conference.
Allan has not spoken publicly on the incident, except for a brief statement this morning that said she accepted her position was untenable and that she had faced “a number of personal difficulties” over recent weeks.
“I took time off to address those, and believed I was okay to juggle those challenges with the pressure of being a minister,” her statement read.
“My actions yesterday show I wasn’t okay, and I’ve let myself and my colleagues down.”
The Herald this afternoon published a photo taken immediately after the crash, showing her vehicle on an angle, in the middle of the road, with the headlights pointing in the direction of a ute she had just crashed into.
The ute had damage to a rear right panel and a flattened tyre.
An infringement notice was also issued as Allan had excess breath alcohol between 250-400 micrograms (mcg) of alcohol per litre of breath. Allan will appear in court at a later date.
The offences Allan has been charged with are each punishable by a maximum of three months’ imprisonment.
The charges do not automatically disqualify her from being an MP; parliamentarians are removed from Parliament if convicted of an offence with a maximum penalty of two or more years’ imprisonment.
The participant's death was unrelated to the pilot, according to Oranga Tamariki.