The Front Page: Stuart Nash demotion – did Chris Hipkins go too far or not far enough?

Former Police Minister Stuart Nash. Photo / NZME

Stuart Nash has long been known as a hard-nosed politician, but his tough-talking landed him in hot water this week.

The former Police Minister undid his career by revealing on Newstalk ZB that he once called Police Minister Andrew Coster and suggested that they appeal the sentence given to an offender.

This revelation broke a cardinal rule of politics and Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls tells The Front Page podcast it left Prime Minister Chris Hipkins with little choice but to demote him.

Within six hours of Nash’s comments on Newstalk ZB, Hipkins was making an announcement about his Police Minister’s resignation.

“What Nash has effectively done is interfere with matters before the police, which is a big no-no when it comes to the separation of politics and police,” says Walls.

“This is such a meaningful relationship split that it’s actually codified in the Cabinet Manual, which is the ministerial rule book essentially.

“There are a lot of people arguing right now that the Prime Minister didn’t go far enough by just sacking him as Police Minister and he should have gone a lot further and sacked him from Cabinet altogether.”

Nash still retains the Forestry, Oceans and Fisheries and Economic Development portfolios as things stand at the moment.

Despite sharp criticism from Opposition parties, Walls anticipates that Hipkins will not take these portfolios away from Nash in the lead-up to the election.

“What happens beyond that remains to be seen,” Walls says. The situation has created a headache for the Government, which must now appoint yet another Minister to take charge of a portfolio facing enormous criticisms due to the rising fear of crime across the country.

“This is about the fourth Police Minister we’ve had, so it does look pretty shaky. If it was the finance portfolio and we were going into recession with our fifth finance Minister, that wouldn’t instil a lot of confidence.”

So who could steady the ship for Labour? Do they have enough talent in their ranks to fill key ministerial roles? And now that Hipkins can’t play the role of Mr Fix It, who will take that responsibility?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page to hear Walls suggest where the Police portfolio will likely end up.

• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. • You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.