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Speaker Gerry Brownlee has reversed his decision to bar an investigative journalist from covering the national apology to survivors of abuse in care at Parliament on Tuesday.
In a letter to press gallery chair Jason Walls on Monday afternoon, Brownlee confirmed Aaron Smale would be given temporary accreditation to cover the event.
It comes after the press gallery appealed a decision by Brownlee to deny accreditation to Smale, a freelance journalist and contributor to the Newsroom website who has extensively covered abuse against children and others while in state care.
Earlier, before the U-turn from Brownlee, co-editor Tim Murphy told the Herald he didn’t believe there was any foundation for the move.
“I think they are very aware this is a person who is very connected to the survivors, very aware of the issues and if, in their view, if that person is going to cause discomfort, then they would rather not have it.
“Our view, and I think most journalists’ and most newsrooms’ [view], is that it is not our job to make politicians comfortable.”
Walls said at the time that the Speaker’s refusal was “regrettable” and the press gallery was following up with the Speaker to “appeal the decision”.
“Mr Smale met the criteria for temporary accreditation to the press gallery, to cover the abuse in state care apology tomorrow and, as such, his application was sent to the Speaker’s office for approval,” said Walls, who is also political editor of Newstalk ZB.
“However, the Speaker denied that request, citing issues to do with his conduct on a prior occasion. I was not given further information. Ultimately, the Speaker approves all press gallery accreditations. As the press gallery had approved Mr Smale’s accreditation application, any further questions should be directed to the Speaker.”
The Speaker’s office was previously contacted for comment about why the decision to refuse Smale was made.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee during Question Time in Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Murphy said the only reason Newsroom was aware of for the rejection of Smale had been the claim about issues with his prior conduct.
“We know the context of that, because we’ve had discussions with ministers’ offices after both an announcement in Palmerston North and then [after] the Prime Minister’s press conference after the initial apology, when the [Royal Commission of Inquiry] report was received.”
Murphy said Smale accepted that he had been “over-reactive” and “forceful and argumentative” in his questioning of Children’s Minister Karen Chhour at a boot camp announcement in Palmerston North after he “took exception” to a comment.
Newsroom “didn’t accept that there was anything wrong” with Smale’s “direct” questioning at a separate Prime Minister’s press conference, despite a complaint from the Beehive.
Murphy said it appeared the “Beehive considers Aaron to have been rude and ministers felt uncomfortable”.
“That seems to be the context behind it. It’s obviously not ministers who have done it. They’ve ... sort of Speaker-washed it and gone through that way so it can be a parliamentary matter, not a political matter.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday afternoon said his office and other ministers’ offices had raised concerns with Newsroom about Smale’s conduct and it was also subsequently raised with the Speaker. He said he was comfortable with whatever the Speaker decided. Luxon said it wasn’t about tough questions, but other actions.
Murphy said he didn’t believe the Speaker had any “foundation” to stop Smale being accredited.
“It does prevent someone who probably knows as much as anyone about what’s gone on, both with the abuse and then with the legal kind of strategy that Crown and politicians have used for decades, so someone very knowledgeable, who would be able to ask perhaps the most exacting questions, won’t be there.”
Smale was going to write an “observational piece for us kind of through the eyes of survivors”, Murphy said.
“It all just smacks of a raw nerve and we think that probably it’s because there’s a raw nerve about how the survivors, not the journalist, the survivors might react to tomorrow’s announcement not being coupled with anything substantial or practical in terms of redress.”
He said the office of the minister overseeing the response to the Royal Commission into state abuse, Erica Stanford, had asked Newsroom if Smale would be attending the national apology. Newsroom said he would, to write the observational piece.
In a Newsroom piece, Smale had been puzzled by the refusal.
“In my view, this decision is just another small example of the Crown dodging responsibility and its ingrained habit of avoiding accountability. What is it that the Prime Minister and his people are really uncomfortable about?”
The event is set down for Tuesday for the Government to formally apologise following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care. It investigated abuse in institutions between 1950 and 1999.
“This is a significant event, and the Government is working with survivor groups to deliver an event that gives it the dignity it deserves,” Stanford said in July.
“The apology will provide an important opportunity for the Government, and the leaders of other political parties, to take responsibility on behalf of the nation for the failures of the state across many Governments.”
Stanford has previously announced payments for some Lake Alice survivors, but there has so far been little detail about a wider redress system. Legislation will be introduced this week aimed at improving state care.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.
