Michael Wood has dug himself a really deep hole, and fresh allegations raised yesterday in Parliament pretty much sealed his fate. It turns out that he misled Jacinda Ardern’s office, not once but three times, that he had sold his shares. In fact he only sold them yesterday, when he finally managed to find out how:
Michael Wood’s shareholding in Auckland Airport was raised three times with former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office – which was wrongly told he had sold them, Parliament has heard today.
The under-fire minister has now sold his shares in Auckland Airport and he will donate the money to charity.
It emerged in Parliament today that Ardern’s office was told at least three times about the shareholding – and was once wrongly told he had sold the shares.
Wood said he could not recall Ardern ever speaking to him about the shares.
NZ Herald
I think we’ve established that we can’t believe a word Michael Wood utters and, as Barry Soper says, that should be it for the drop kick minister.
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.
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.
NZ Herald
And Newsroom has revealed that Michael Wood lied to their reporter. Jonathan Milne at Newsroom writes:
What pecuniary interests, I asked the minister, did he have beyond those disclosed in the 2021 register of interests?
“None,” Michael Wood replied, unequivocally.
That was July 5, two years ago. I’d approached him for an explanation, after registrar Sir Maarten Wevers formally rapped him over the knuckles for filing his returns late. …
And now Hipkins has learned that Wood expressly denied having any undisclosed pecuniary interests, in an emailed statement to Newsroom.
National MP Paul Goldsmith says his email to Newsroom came at a time that the Cabinet Office had already contacted Wood five times about whether he had sold his shares in Auckland Airport, part of its lengthy and unsuccessful attempt to get him to follow the rules.
He calls Wood’s response to Newsroom “demonstrably false”.
“He knew he owned the shares, and he knew they represented a conflict of interest. His answer rested on the fig leaf that he thought because the shares were held in a trust they didn’t have to be declared.”
Newsroom
Let’s recap. Michael Wood:
- Misled two Prime Ministers
- Told Jacinda Ardern’s office three times the shares had been sold
- Has been asked 12 times to sell the shares
- Mis-declared them several times
- Lied to a reporter about his shares
- Is under inquiry by the Pecuniary Interests Registrar
What on earth does a minister have to do to be sacked if lying to two prime ministers and a journalist, as well as to the Cabinet Office doesn’t pass the threshold?
National should now be pursuing documents from the Cabinet Office, and compelling the Cabinet Secretary to appear before a Select Committee.
Chris Hipkins, meanwhile, has very quickly developed a reputation as a prime minister who is tolerant of deliberate dissemblers in his cabinet.
This saga has now taken up most of this week. If a scandal doesn’t ebb away after three days then it really should be curtains for the hapless minister.
Now the Pecuniary Interests Registrar has initiated an inquiry. This will not end well for Wood, but all the other ministers will be wondering if there is anything untidy in their own interests and how they can surreptitiously amend it without drawing undue flak.
Chris Hipkins has to sack Michael Wood now. It’s the only way to cauterise the bleeding stump that remains of Michael Wood’s career.
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