Prime Minister Chris Hipkins addresses the situation involving Kiri Allan at the post-cabinet press conference.
Video / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins believes comments made by a Radio New Zealand board member about former minister Kiri Allan are not appropriate and says it requires ministerial management.
The Herald yesterday reported Jason Ake, a former journalist who began his two-year term on RNZ’s board at the start of this month, posted to Facebook that he didn’t “know why she [Allan] was cleared to return to mahi last week. All the signs were there”.
Allan has resigned as a minister after being charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany police following a car crash in Wellington on Sunday night while experiencing “extreme emotional distress”, Hipkins said yesterday.
Ake’s post said there would be some who would be happy to think they had contributed to Allan’s downfall.
“There will be a cohort throwing their hands in feigned disbelief while quietly smirking that they contributed in some way to the palaver.
“When there’s blood in the water the sharks circle and they’re more than happy to digest every last morsel and watch the bones sink to the depths. It is a blood sport,” Ake wrote.
Ake was approached for comment yesterday, but stopped answering his messages. RNZ did not respond to requests for comment and Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Hipkins, speaking on RNZ this morning, said it wasn’t appropriate for Ake to be making such comments publicly.
“Somebody who is on the board of a Crown entity, particularly an independent media entity like Radio New Zealand, shouldn’t be providing an independent political commentary,” he said.
Asked what should be done, Hipkins said it was a matter for Broadcasting and Media Minister Willie Jackson, who appointed the board.
Hipkins accepted that “everybody’s human” but that it could be necessary to monitor Ake to assess whether his inappropriate comments were a one-off or a pattern of behaviour.
“If he was to continue to do so, provide a stream of independent political commentary, I think that would question whether or not he was the right person to be on the board of Radio New Zealand.”
Kiri Allan is reconsidering her political future as she faces criminal charges. Photo / Mark Mitchell
RNZ chairman Dr Jim Mather, who was currently overseas, had been made aware of Ake’s comments and has informed Ake of his “responsibilities under the Code of Conduct for Crown Entity Board members”, according to a spokesperson.
The relevant section of the code of conduct required members to “avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public’s trust in the entity”.
Mather acknowledged Ake was new to the board and would discuss the matter with him when Mather returned to New Zealand this week.
On July 1, the day Ake began his term on the RNZ board and the week stories about Allan’s conduct as a minister broke, Ake wrote a lengthy post about the conditions of ministerial office.
“I have worked in a ministerial parliamentary office and have an informed perspective at how intense the atmosphere can be. That’s because there’s just so much at stake,” he wrote.
“As staffers, you find out pretty quickly which MPs from across the entire ecosystem can be difficult to work with. Staff talk irrespective of which party they’re servicing.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
