“As I indicated yesterday, I think [Wood] should have divested the shares when he first said he was going to.”
Responding to a question from National’s Willis about why Wood remained in Cabinet, Hipkins said: “I have indicated I don’t think Minister Wood has met the relevant expectations and that is why he has been stood down as Minister of Transport.
“The first I was made aware of the shareholding was over the weekend- or on Friday, when my office was made aware of that. In terms of why they didn’t signal that, I am somewhat frustrated that when I was doing the reshuffle, they had not highlighted that as an issue for me.
When Willis asked Hipkins whether it was good enough for him to be “somewhat frustrated” when his Cabinet ministers didn’t appear to be sticking to the Cabinet Manual, Hipkins said: “No, it’s not acceptable.”
“It is my expectation that ministers will follow the rules around conflicts of interest. Those rules are clear, and where there is evidence that they haven’t [followed the rules] then I will deal with that.
“I don’t believe there is a need to have an investigation on that matter [Wood’s inaction after being told to divest his shares 12 times] because the facts are clear and they are not contested,” Hipkins said.
“[Communications between Wood and the Cabinet Office were] a mixture of both [written and spoken] and the Cabinet Office’s records are, of course, subject to the Official Information Act,” Hipkins said.
Both National and Act are calling for Wood to go. National leader Christopher Luxon wants Wood sacked from his remaining portfolios and removed from Cabinet.
After further revelations, published in the Herald this morning, Act leader David Seymour has also called for Wood to go.
Wood was suspended as a minister on Tuesday for his handling of shares owned in Auckland Airport.
The value of the shares amounted to just $13,000, but it was Wood’s decision to tell the Cabinet Office he would sell the shares but never actually getting around to doing it that has landed him in hot water.
“One of the challenges is that the Cabinet Office had been advised by [Wood] on a number of occasions that he has divested himself of the shares, that clearly hasn’t happened. That is quite a material issue,” Hipkins said.
Wood has been stood down while he works through disclosing the shares appropriately and finally sells them.
He has a path back to Cabinet once he has worked through the register of pecuniary interests to properly disclose his ownership of the shares in the past.
Luxon told TVNZ’s Breakfast the Wood issue was a case of “another week, another ministerial scandal within the Labour Government, another week where we’re talking about why people don’t feel safe in their homes, why our kids aren’t at school and about the cost of living”.
He said it was “a massive distraction at a time when New Zealanders really want the Government focused on things that matter to them”.
Luxon called Hipkins’ leadership “weak” and said the party’s “wheels are falling off”.
Act leader David Seymour said news Wood was involved in declining the application of North Shore Airport’s airport authority status meant he could no longer continue as a minister.
“The question of Wood being a Minister is no longer a matter of ‘life admin’ as Chris Hipkins has put it. It is now a matter of whether people can trust the New Zealand Government to be open and transparent about who it serves,” he said.
