Barry Soper: Transport Minister Michael Wood, Auckland Airport shares saga - There should be no coming back for minister

OPINION:

On the face of it, $13,000 worth of shares wouldn’t be seen by many as a windfall, certainly nothing to lose your job over.

That’s the value in Auckland Airport shares the man known as the Little General around Parliament, mainly because he’s always so sure of himself, owned.

But, and it’s a big BUT, Michael Wood is the Transport Minister, or was up until a couple of days ago and the Prime Minister says he will be again once he sells down his shares to avoid any conflict of interest.

Wood was asked by the all-powerful Cabinet office a dozen times over the past two years or so to get rid of the shares. The requests came from November 19, 2020, with the latest one coming on March 27. 2023. On each occasion, he said he was about to divest himself of the shares. Most of us would simply be able to do this by picking up the phone.

Michael Wood has been stood down as Transport Minister. Photo / Michael Craig

That seems beyond Wood’s capability.

An embarrassed Chris Hipkins says it’s unacceptable for the minister to hold on to the shares for so long and after so many requests to rid himself of them. But it seems unacceptability is acceptable in this Government’s books.

It also seems, at least at the moment, for the Minister in his transport role to turn down a case by a North Shore airport to get a more formal status. Of course it would work in competition to the super city’s airport, and for a share-holding minister to turn down an application by competitors is what is really unacceptable.

Now, it would be too far-fetched to suggest that Wood, holding such a small share ownership in the airport, would make the decision to preserve the value of his shares. But it’s the perception that doesn’t pass the sniff test and given he had so many opportunities to shed the shares makes it worse.

It raises questions about all the other decisions he’s made and then gone back on at great cost to the taxpayer, and the $50 million wasted on the Baby Boomers Bridge to Birkenhead is the most obvious.

Transport Minister Michael Wood and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Michael Craig

There should be no coming back for Wood; he’s transgressed in one of the worse ways a minister can.

It’s incredible to think he follows a line of ministers who’ve crossed the line since Hipkins took over from Jacinda Ardern.

Stuart Nash is still under investigation; there’s Jan Tinetti, who faces the privileges committee on Thursday for either being dumb, or obstinate or arrogant by not correcting a statement she made to Parliament when she had plenty of opportunity to do so; and there’s Kiri Allan who’s faced a number of transgressions.

All but Nash appear to have been forgiven, simply it seems, because they’ve shown some sort of contrition.

Ministers in other governments over the years have been given the boot for less. But it seems Hipkins, the sous chef in Ardern’s kitchen Cabinet, is as weak as her when it comes to Cabinet discipline.

It’s even worse when there should be a raft of MPs to call on to step up, given Labour has the biggest caucus in memory.

The fact there isn’t speaks volumes about the unbridled power of this Government.