PM Chris Hipkins has told the Cabinet secretary to review all correspondence between Stuart Nash and his donors - and has also revealed that staff in the Prime Minister’s office saw Nash’s email to two donors in 2021, but did not escalate it.
Hipkins said the 2020 email from Nash to donors Troy Bowker and Greg Loveridge was part of the wider material considered under an Official Act Information Act in 2021. It was not released under the request because it was deemed out of scope.
He said Nash’s office had consulted the Prime Ministers’ office about it - but the email was not brought to the attention of either then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern or her chief of staff.
He said he had made clear to his staff that if something similar happened under his watch, he expected to be told.
“I have made it very clear to my office that I expect to be advised of any such matters should they arrive.
“I have made it very clear I expect to be alerted of any such communications in the future.”
He has also ordered a review of all of Nash’s communications with the donors listed in his election returns - expected to take two months.
“Stuart has advised me he will fully cooperate with that review.”
“I expect a high level of conduct from Ministers and MPs and his actions raise perceptions of influence which cannot stand and therefore need to be checked,” Hipkins said.
He said it was important for public confidence to undertake such a measure, but did not believe a wider review of all ministers’ communications with donors was required. And he said he was also keen to check after being given earlier assurances by Nash that there was nothing else amiss in his dealings - only for the email to his donors about Cabinet decisions on the rent relief scheme to come to light.
The review would look at whether there were any other breaches of cabinet collective responsibility or confidentially, or whether there have been perceived or actual conflicts of interest in communications Nash has had with donors.
“The scope of this review will be limited to emails, texts and other messages between Stuart Nash and any declared donor to his campaign,” Chris Hipkins said.
Asked if the email was covered up in the handling of the OIA, he said it was not included because it was outside the scope of the request.
Nash is expected to reveal later today what his future plans are.
Hipkins would not comment on what Nash had decided for his own future, saying that was for Nash to announce himself.
Earlier
MP Stuart Nash has taken down his MP’s Facebook page ahead of an expected announcement on his future plans.
Nash told the NZ Herald earlier today that he would announce his intentions on social media and would not force a byelection - indicating that if he leaves Parliament, it will either be after mid-April or at the election.
PM Chris Hipkins is also expected to give further updates on Nash soon, saying he was getting further advice about Nash and the appropriate consequences for his transgressions.
Nash told the NZ Herald this morning that he would not quit as an MP early to force a byelection in his Napier electorate, and has hosed down speculation he might leap to NZ First, saying he was “Labour to the core.”
“The only thing I will say is I will not leave and create a byelection - there will be no byelection in Napier”
Asked if he would contest the 2023 election, he said he would have those conversations with his wife and Labour.
He also hosed down speculation he might jump to NZ First - he is close to both Shane Jones and Winston Peters.
Nash said he had had a “long conversation” with Shane Jones last night but he had not been offered a place in NZ First.
“I’m Labour to the core - always have been always will be, Nashes have been for a long, long, long, long time,” Nash said.
Asked this morning at a police announcement about Nash’s future, Hipkins said being dismissed as a minister was not a standard he wanted to set for then being dismissed as an MP as well.
While National leader Christopher Luxon has called for Nash to leave Parliament immediately, Hipkins said that he did not think that was what the people of Napier would want at the moment given they needed an MP after Cyclone Gabrielle and Nash had been heavily involved in the response.
“I don’t think the people of Napier deserve that right at the moment, to be frank, they’ve got a lot on their plate already dealing with the recovery from the cyclone.”
He said any questions about if Nash would retire at the election were for Nash himself to answer.
“He’s been contemplating his future. I think it’s appropriate that he gets the space to make that announcement himself and make that decision for himself. That’s ultimately a decision for him.”
“People will understand that he’ll be taking 24 hours, I think we should give him that space.
“Then I’m sure he will want the opportunity to speak for himself.”
Asked if Hipkins should kick Nash out of caucus, he said he did not want to set a “standard that high”.
“It is not unusual for ministers who have lost their ministerial positions to continue on in the caucus.
“In fact, the National Party still has some people in its current caucus who had previously been dismissed as ministers.
“I’m not going to set a standard that’s so high that others have never had that in the past. Stuart Nash has paid a pretty big consequence for the mistakes that he has made.”
Hipkins said he understood that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was not aware of Nash’s emails to donors. He said he was looking at whether anyone else in the office knew about the emails.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said there are various information requests in about police dealings with Nash which would be responded to.
He said his interactions with Nash had been “professional and they have been respectful”.
“Generally speaking I have been comfortable with the nature of those conversations.”
On the specific conversation that led to Nash resigning as Police Minister, Coster said while it appeared to be about a specific thing he “didn’t feel pressure from him”.
“I found him to be venting on a particular case.”
He said he did not feel the need to kick that conversation up to a ministerial level.
“I didn’t feel the need to in relation to that situation. I felt it was simply venting. But of course, the perception around that is different.”
He said he had not raised any concerns with higher levels about any of his conversations with Nash.
“In all my dealings with Nash I found him to be passionate about policing and professional in his dealings.”
Hipkins has spent the morning at Trentham in Wellington, looking at the police tactical response model alongside Police Minister Ginny Andersen and Coster.
However, the subject of Nash, as former Police Minister, has been a focus of his media appearance.
Hipkins announced he had sacked Nash last night after Stuff revealed Nash had emailed two of his donors - Troy Bowker and Greg Loveridge - to update them on Cabinet discussions around a rent relief scheme during Covid-19.
Hipkins said it was a breach of Cabinet collectivity and confidentiality. Nash was already on his final warning after a string of scandals before the latest misstep came to light, but Hipkins said the most recent scandal was “inexcusable” and this incident alone would have seen Nash sacked.
Bowker had donated $10,000 to Nash for the 2020 campaign, Loveridge had donated $5000 via a company, GRL Holdings.
Both men, who Hipkins said had done nothing wrong, were also involved in the property industry.
“They are also commercial property owners who had an interest in the Cabinet decision.
“That crosses a line that is totally unacceptable to me,” Hipkins said.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon said Nash should leave Parliament altogether as a result of the email.
National MP Mark Mitchell, who hosted a radio segment with Nash for years and played alongside him in the Parliament rugby team, said this morning he wasn’t surprised by the revelations last night.
“There’s the old saying where there’s smoke there’s fire,” Mitchell said.
“I do have sympathy for Stuart but at the end of the day he is a Cabinet minister and he obviously is bound by Cabinet rules and he kept on breaking those.”
Mitchell said questions needed to be asked to Hipkins on whether this was an isolated incident.
“Has it been a wider pattern of behaviour? Because like I said to you when that first incident happened it became pretty obvious that even Chris Hipkins did not understand how serious it was.”
Mitchell said when Nash’s original scandal appeared he waited to see whether he’d publicly apologise.
“But he didn’t do that he doubled down on it so what it clearly signalled to everyone is that there is no self-awareness.”
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