Napier electorate chairman backs MP Nash ‘100 per cent’

Napier MP Stuart Nash with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in Hawkje's Bay last month. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The electorate chairman for Napier MP Stuart Nash, who on Wednesday resigned from the role of Minister of Police after just 43 days in one of Parliament’s hottest seats, is backing him “100 per cent” to remain in Parliament.

Mark Cleary said Nash had been confirmed as the Labour Party candidate for Napier in this year’s general election, as he had been at the elections in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020, and he would continue to support him in all the ministerial and electorate roles he retains, as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has also pledged.

The resignation followed a morning radio confession that he once contacted the Police Commissioner suggesting Police should appeal what Nash believed was a light sentence in a criminal court case.

While Nash hadn’t been Minister of Police at the time of that contact, it was considered outside his realm in the Cabinet - soon after Wednesday’s broadcast Opposition leaders began calling for the resignation, and then intervention by the Prime Minister.

In a cyclone response visit with the Prime Minister to Gisborne on Thursday Nash repented, telling Radio New Zealand: “I completely stuffed up, and you know what - if I was the prime minister I would have done exactly the same thing as our one did. I own it, made a mistake, and onwards and upwards.”

Cleary said that if there was a “silver lining”, albeit with a little local selfishness, the MP would be able to focus more on the issues in the electorate.

Nash told RNZ: “I’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do. I’m very, very engaged with what I need to get done in the Bay and I’m loving Forestry, Economic Development and Fisheries.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do across my portfolios and a lot of work to do in my home region of Hawke’s Bay and my electorate,” he said. “I’m really keen to make sure that we get it right there, so I’ll be working incredibly hard to make sure we get it right for the people of Hawke’s Bay.

“If I make the same mistake again, the Prime Minister will have to take further action - but we learn from our errors,” he said.

“The Prime Minister’s made it very clear to me if I stuff up like this again then I’m gone. I will work incredibly hard to earn back the trust of the Prime Minister and the country, and people will judge me on that.”

Hipkins said he had confidence in Nash to ably carry out work in his other portfolios.

“He’s a conscientious, hard-working minister who’s made a mistake,” he said. “He’s owned the mistake. I’m confident that he won’t make that mistake again. I have confidence in him filling the other roles that he’s got.”

Nash served one term as a list MP from 2008-2011, and was elected as Napier MP in 2014 after the retirement from Parliament of National MP for Napier Chris Tremain.

He’s served in several Cabinet roles, including as Minister of Police from 2017-2020 and was reappointed to the role on February 1, succeeding Chris Hipkins as Hipkins became Prime Minister.

He resigned on Wednesday after a comment on a radio show that he had once contacted the Commissioner of Police to suggest a Police appeal of what Nash believed was a light sentence for a man’s criminal offending – in conflict with the authority of a Cabinet Minister. Nash retains the roles of Minister for Economic Development, Minister of Forestry, and Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and some extra responsibility for cyclone recovery in his region.

Cleary said he could not speak for the rest of his committee, as it had not yet met since Wednesday’s rapid-fire events leading to the resignation.

But he said no members had been in contact with him relating to any concerns about the MP’s actions or his places as Napier MP and Labour’s candidate.