PM Jacinda Ardern has sacked Iain Lees-Galloway as a minister over an inappropriate relationship with a staff member in one of the departments he headed.
EDITORIAL
One can only hope we have excoriated the bottom of the trough, but it would be most unwise to place any money on it.
The shock announcement of Iain Lees-Galloway's dismissal yesterday bore all the classic traces of a political takedown.
The pieces were already in position when Oppositionleader Judith Collins was asked in a TV interview whether she had "received anything about Labour ministers or Labour MPs". Collins then delivered the throw with: "I have, actually."
The events then follow the inevitable course. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces, at a hastily called press conference, she has stripped the Minister of his responsibilities; the Minister issues a briefly-worded mea culpa and asks for his family's privacy to be respected.
Opposition leader Judith Collins was asked by AM Show co-presenter Duncan Garner whether she had been passed any information about a Labour minister or MP. Photo / Mark Mitchell
As in all cases of families drawn into such a fray, one can only feel for their pain and distress.
As the cloud dissipates, let's be clear: What Lees-Galloway did was untenable as a Minister of the Crown. As the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, only more so.
However, the timing of this sacking 59 days from a General Election is interesting. Lees-Galloway's "inappropriate relationship" ended "several months ago", according to the accepted account of events.
Why the exposure should occur now, and not earlier, can be explained in several ways. Unless the most unlikely scenario unfolds and all parties come forward to clarify the chain of events, one can only speculate. But some are more probable.
Perhaps an informant has sat on the information for several months and only now has been pricked of conscience enough to come forward to contact the Opposition party. Or, the party bided its time to unleash the allegations, when the shot would have the optimum impact.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing she has sacked Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. Photo / Mark Mitchell
We do know that National has been through some of the most tumultuous times in the party's history.
The rolling of the poorly polling leader Simon Bridges for Todd Muller, only to then last just 53 days before retiring, was enough to destabilise the electoral train. The odious actions of National MP Andrew Falloon were almost enough to derail it.
The departure of Lees-Galloway bears little comparison with that of former National MP for Rangitata. If the allegations as reported are true, Falloon's actions weren't by mutual consent, in that he unsolicitedly transmitted pornographic material to others.
The timing of the Lees-Galloway exposure raises another unsettling consideration, however.
If this relationship ended several months ago and he accepts he "acted completely inappropriately ... and cannot continue as a Minister", why didn't he resign at the time of the affair?
If anything, this is what unseated a Government Minister who has resoundingly proved himself unfit for the important portfolios during the unprecedented challenges facing this nation.
His morals, ethics and decision-making clearly exposed as wanting, Lees-Galloway had to go. Workplace affairs happen, but few would be as obviously inappropriate as this.
We can't trust there won't be more body blows in this election, but we can still hope against hope the campaigns return to debating the body politic.
