Cabinet Secretary Rachel Hayward said it was “highly unusual” for Labour MP Michael Wood to continue to have shares in Auckland Airport despite being told repeatedly to sell them.
She also said the “difficulties in getting traction on the issue” called for the involvement of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, which usually resolved the issue - but in Wood’s case, it had not.
Hayward’s letter to Hipkins, released to the Herald, is dated June 7, a day after a story in the Herald revealed the potential conflict of interest involving the then-Transport Minister and his airport shares.
Wood was stood down from the transport portfolio, and sold his shares two days after the Herald story came out.
He assured Hipkins that he had nothing else hiding in the closet, but then resigned as a minister two weeks later after further shareholdings and potential conflicts of interest emerged that he had failed to adequately manage. He remains the MP for Mt Roskill.
Michael Wood and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in front of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Photo / Michael Craig
Wood first informed the Cabinet Office about his Auckland Airport shares in November 2020 and was told he should consider selling them - the first of 16 interactions between the Cabinet Office and Wood’s office about the shares.
Hayward, in her June letter to Hipkins, said that she should have informed him about Wood and his airport shares as soon as he took over from Ardern.
“I would like to offer my sincere apologies for not having drawn this conflict, and the difficulties in getting traction on the issue with Hon. Wood, to your personal attention following your appointment,” her letter said.
She gave him an assurance that there were no such “similar difficulties” with any other ministers.
“It is highly unusual for a minister not to follow Cabinet Office advice in a timely way, and on the rare occasions where we strike problems, calling on the support of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff is usually effective in swiftly resolving the issue. Unfortunately, that wasn’t sufficient in this case.”
Ardern’s chief of staff was Raj Nahna, who said he had nothing to add.
“I haven’t seen the letter so can’t speak to it.”
Wood, regardless, did not sell his shares until after the Herald’s June 6 story.
The June 7 letter from Cabinet Secretary Rachel Hayward to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
Hayward concludes the letter saying that, in future, she will draw Hipkins’ attention to such concerns relating to a minister at “an early opportunity”.
The additional shareholdings that led to Wood’s resignation were held in the JM Fairey Family Trust, of which he is both a trustee and a beneficiary.
The trust holds “thousands” of dollars of shares, in particular, stakes in Chorus, Spark and the National Australia Bank. Those shareholdings raised questions around potential conflicts, such as decisions made by Cabinet relating to the recently announced market study into banks, and immigration decisions regarding telecommunications workers.
Wood has said that there hadn’t been “a second of my political career” where his financial interests influenced his actions as a minister.
He is yet to say whether he will stand for re-election.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist for the Herald and a former Deputy Political Editor, who has worked on and off for the Herald’s Press Gallery team since 2010.
