Chris Hipkins’ Labour government has lost another minister, after Kiri Allan was arrested on Sunday night, and is down to just 18 cabinet ministers three months out from an election.
Allan, who held the Justice and Regional Development portfolios, was involved in a car crash in Wellington around 9pm on Sunday night.
The police said she was charged with careless use of a motor vehicle, and refusing to accompany a police officer. An infringement notice was also issued for being above the blood alcohol limit.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the behaviour was inexcusable and made her position as Justice Minister untenable — Allan resigned early on Monday morning.
Hipkins said she had been experiencing “extreme emotional distress” at the time of the crash.
“Her recent personal struggles with mental health have been well documented and it appears some of those came to a head yesterday,” he said in a statement.
Allan had been on mental health leave for several weeks but returned to Parliament last week where she fronted the announcement of a justice policy regarding ram raids.
Hipkins said there would not be a snap election and that he would redistribute Allan’s portfolios among the existing ministers.
“I don’t think now is the right time to be bringing people into the ministry, this close to an election,” he told reporters.
Hipkins said he was confident the remaining ministers—there are 25 in total—could carry the workload for the last five parliamentary weeks before the election.
Two short
When Cabinet meets this afternoon, there will be only 18 ministers seated around the table instead of the usual 20. There are also a number of ministers outside of Cabinet.
The seats which had been occupied by Michael Wood and Kiri Allan will be empty.
Hipkins will reallocate Allan’s portfolios this afternoon, but will not promote a junior minister into Cabinet.
Allan’s resignation comes after a week focused on law & order policy announcements, aimed at reassuring voters that Labour was taking public concern about crime seriously.
Crime has become the second most important issue for voters, behind the cost of living, whereas it wasn’t even in the top five at the start of 2022.
Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor survey has found 33% of New Zealanders think National were most capable of managing this issue, versus just 23% for Labour.
Allan also held the regional development portfolio and was the associate minister for transport and finance.
Only a month ago, Hipkins had to reallocate Wood’s portfolios and chose to give them to existing cabinet ministers — adding to their workload.
David Parker added transport to his other jobs: revenue, environment, and Attorney-General.
Andrew Little took immigration on top of defence, secret services, public service, and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.
Carmel Sepuloni, already the deputy prime minister, took on workplace relations and safety alongside social development and arts.
Allan took over Wood’s associate finance role, but only lasted a month.
Labour has had nine ministers leave the job this year. Four retired, two resigned, one was demoted, one defected, and another was dismissed.
Election struggles
Hipkins will need a strong candidate to lead the justice portfolio to oversee the policies announced only last week, and to face voters during the election.
A 1News-Verian poll last week showed a National-Act coalition able to form a government with a one seat majority. It looked like bad news for Labour, but behind the scenes some within the party were happy with the result.
It followed a string of ministerial scandals (Meka Whaitiri, Stuart Nash, Jan Tinetti, Michael Wood, and Kiri Allan) but Labour only fell two percentage points. National also fell two points.
A senior Labour figure asked: “If National couldn’t get us in our worst few months we’ve had, then when can it?”
Now the Allan scandal has snowballed from allegedly shouting at staff to resisting arrest, meaning Labour’s worst months are being extended.
The party will be hoping it can hold onto its place in the polls, which have continued to show a dead-heat race despite myriad distractions.
Opposition responds
Christopher Luxon, leader of the National Party, said in a statement that it was right for Kiri Allan to have resigned as her position was untenable.
"Clearly this situation raise questions about the judgement of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. We wish Ms Allan well and hope she is getting the support and help she needs," he said.
143 Comments
How many nails do they want to bang into their coffin? Does every Labour MP have a hammer and a few nails and nothing better to do ? Getting pissed and crashing into cars and resisting arrest is a new one though. I will give them an A+ for their effort here. Excellent delivery of the nail to the coffin. Outstanding.
Quite astonishing despite the bazooka to the foot being applied by Labour, Chippy from the Hutt is still fairly close to Christopher the CEO in preferred PM stakes.
How bad are this National Party and how out of touch are they that the polls aren’t indicating an absolute landslide? They should be locked in for majority rule but looks like they are going to limp across the line on ACT shoulders.
National would gain massive support if they stopped bagging Labour with all their air time - instead they should come out with big plans, big solutions and quit the whining. Everyone who is not a govt employee, or labour devotee, knows that labour have been useless no need to bang on about it.
The other thing National could do is look to recognize the unaffordable housing situation and instead of pandering to the property investors (who make up less than 2% of the voting public) actually come up with some policies around housing that will help the next generation.
*slapping a 20% buyers tax on secondary dwellings would be a start.
*Add to that a stress test of 15% or 20% for all investment borrowing.
*Or consider banning the use of the family home for equity/borrowing.
Time to end the ponzi.
This is a dumb comparison. Hipkins is the incumbent and the incumbent always polls well in the preferred PM stakes. The real question is how does Hipkins compare to previous PMs at a similar stage (poorly) and how does Luxon compare to opposition leaders at a similar stage (a lot better than many think).
The issue Keri had with the seconded Doc staff member who could not cope with the demands of a politicians office occurred in June last year. It has only been raised now, presumably by the National Party as part of their election campaign. I would suggest that a large part of the blame for Keri's present mental crisis can be directly blamed on the National parties cynical attack on her. Is this the sort of nasty people we want leading the country?
I find myself in the centre category - Labour and National aren't exactly getting me motivated. Labour continually shows they do not have the capability or experience required for a functioning Cabinet. The thought of replacing the terrible ones with Green and Maori party members is borderline frightening. The question I have is, would NZ First be a good handbrake on National and ACT almost like they were with Labour in their first term? Or do you just do the two ticks blue
Policy.
The stronger ACT is, the weaker National will be. "Look Christopher. I think it's a good idea that we go into coalition, but, I want to be the Prime Minister, or nothing's going to happen, and we'll happily sit on the cross benches and support you, or not, as we see fit"
Sadly, politics isn't about "What's good for the country or voters" it's about "What's good for the politicians", and getting an ex-PM's retirement perks must be better than backbenchers'. Ask Liz Truss!
'In it for us', I presume means 'future us-es'?
That compares to the 'what's in it for me, now' brigade; the ones who have to believe or ignore whatever could challenge their 'right' to unfettered indulgence.
It seems there are more of the latter, compounded by increasing bottom-end desperation. En masse, we seem to vote for our short-term (short on thinking?) selves. That has led to the polycrisis impasse we now face globally, and locally, so it wan't the best approach. What happens after? is the only question in town.
Allen was merely representative of a different echelon of 'what's in it for me', than the decrier echelon. Both miss the point. I happened to disagree with her approach, and prior attitude (she saw herself as governing, not representing - and she championed 'making money out of the soil') but wish her well getting her life back together.
As I would the leader of the opposition, when he realises religions - including economics, as taught - are a crock.
Thats because Ardern spent most of her first three years either on maternity leave or jetsetting around the world shamelessly self promoting herself , leaving Winston to run the country. He wasn't the handbrake, he was the defacto PM. Thats the reason why Labour has been so disastrous in their second term. Turns out that being a PR expert does not equip you with the skills to run a country.
I'm in the same boat as you. Labour has to go - it's time for them to do some soul searching, as much as I rather like Chippy as PM and watching the slow motion car crash unfold, pun intended, is rather fun - and I'm not insane enough to think that adding the Greens and TPM into the mix is going to improve things.
Imagine Chippy single-handedly trying to hold it together with all the current crop of Labour incompetents plus the added funk of the likes of Marama Davidson and Rawiri Waititi, especially as Greens and TPM want wealth taxes whereas Chippy has made his bold captain's call against this. Hardly the recipe for stability and competent, logical governance.
Equally, National doesn't exactly excite or inspire. I don't wake up in the morning desiring a bland, milquetoast government that exists in the best interests of rentiers and the wealthy, but I can appreciate the country needs a degree of managerial competence that is clearly missing and which requires a change of government. NACT is the least worst option at this point.
Self-service aside, which always goes hand-in-hand with Mr Peters, NZ First was a good handbrake on the first term of Labour's government (and I don't recall being repulsed by that government as much as I am by the current one).
My thoughts are leading towards voting either National or ACT if polls stay tight and it looks like Winston First will struggle to make 5%. My primary goal is to see Labour gone and avoid the likes of TPM having any potential to call shots. I'd hate to vote NZ First and find my vote has contributed to a scenario where I wake up to the Greens and TPM being in a position to call the shots.
However, if it looks like NZ First will definitely cross 5% or win an electorate seat and National is going to need them, I might be tempted to give the handbrake another chance to prove its worth.
People got rid of the last Labour government under Helen Clark mainly because they were sick of the Nanny State policies they were pushing. They then spent along time in opposition and came back and decided that their last government wasn’t Nanny State enough and decided what they really needed was to be more like China and introduce a dose of cultural Marxism and identity politics to our country.
I really don’t think they will learn their lesson.
I mean heck National are now as left wing as the Helen Clark Labour government. (A lot of this is because of our media pushing them that way).
So as to not waste my vote I’m force to vote for the only party that is still to the right of centre and that is Act.
At least I know they still believe in free speech and personal freedom, unlike the rest of the parties currently in parliament.
These guys are way worse than Helen. Even though I didn't like her, I at least had some respect for her. These guys I have no respect for, they are an embarrassment, and they will be gone for a long long time. Maybe four terms. They were very lucky not to be gone for four terms last time.
Will be interesting to see if yet another ministerial scandal and further serious misjudgement by Hipkins are finally enough to move the swing voter, predominately mature female, dial. The Kath and Kim cohort remain largely left orientated despite Labours ongoing dysfunction.
Insurance companies write them off at the drop of a hat with any internal damage due to the level of risk involved if they give it the all clear and then it has any form off say and electrical fire, for which they may be held liable. Easier to write them off and pay for a new one. Should make for a good second hand battery market for home solar in the coming years.
Agree that the Nat's are a centre-left party now. Act are only slightly right of centre. The extreme Marxists only make them look right wing now.
Not only do we need a change of government, we also need a broom through the public service, judiciary, secondary and tertiary education and the media. Our burgeoning public sector must be near the most bloated and unproductive in the western world (are we still part of the western world??) Many need to ask the existential question on what their purpose is.
Our judiciary have taken to ruling on Te Titiriti claims based on "principles" that have not been put to the people. Almost as if they have been surreptitiously slipped in overnight and waking up the following morning I'm asking "Dude, where's my country?". Suddenly we are expected to believe that co-governance, separatism and partnership were inherently part of the treaty since 1840.
I'm seriously concerned for the future of our country when the science curriculum is now framed within some form of race-based theological doctrine.
As for the media, the "journalism fund" is nothing more than a propaganda slush fund. Objectivity is nothing, personalities and subjectivity are everything.
Time for a grand reset.
Rant over :)
Winston chose Labour 6years ago, who had the lesser number of votes of the two major parties and the country hasn't forgotten this. We got a government we didn't want, then chose the government ~70% of us now heavily regret. What's that saying about being promoted until incompetent...
I sincerely hope people aren’t considering Winston again. IMO he has done nothing but look after Winston. I question his integrity given the donation scandals, welfare payments etc and would prefer he is nowhere near the new government. I suspect a vote for NZF is a wasted vote anyway given they are polling around 3%
I suspect a vote for NZF is a wasted vote anyway given they are polling around 3%
While I'll certainly not be voting for them, people need to vote for what direction they want the country to go, and do away with this nonsense of strategic voting. If everyone voted for what they individually believed we would have an accurate representation of our people and hence be able to create, amend, remove policy which better reflects the diverse range o views and people we now harbour. Changing your vote based on strategy is essentially forgoing your own personal standards and morals, belittling your own opinion. Don't vote 'wisely', vote how you wish.
The purpose of democracy is not to elect "the right leader" But rather it's an idea testing mechanism. Elections are the error correction process. Labour, for instance, are a dictatorial government hell-bent on stealthily implementing neomarxist postmodernism. This cynical theory of envy and resentment also goes by other names like critical theory, critical race theory, and social justice. Come October, we'll find out whether New Zealanders think this was the right direction for the country. I'm frustrated by incompetent, and ridiculously overpaid public servants too, but I don't think for a second that democracy has failed.
I think labour took advantage of Covid to scare people to death and ensure a second term. The princess made sure she was on tv every day which of course was to boost here image, as opposed to help the country. This government then pushed through idealistic policies by stealth that would have never passed an election I.e. co-governance. If Covid was really the pandemic it was made to be, why did the government restructure the health sector…..surely that was a time to focus on……well a pandemic! Oh and co-governance is the end of democracy in NZ!
will be interesting to see if the media hounds the new ministers after the election as hard as they did with this bunch, it has become a blood sport at the moment
you could never pay me enough to be a MP, everything you do can and will be used against you no matter how ordinary it is,
this election has become very nasty and some of the tactics being used from all parties are quite disturbing
anything and everything is acceptable at the moment to win the benches and when peoples personal lives and families are being brought into the mix i find that very unsettling
it not just labour that loses Mp's forced out just national and ACT do more quietly
BRIDGES, Simon and nick smith this term , and national protected Barbara Kuriger, chris bishop, sam uffindell. michael woodhouse from all getting thrown under the bus this time around
at least ACT has forced 2 out and put the other two so low they will not get back in
and imagine in NZ first get in that will be a coalition of the crazies with national and ACT
Has the media actually gone hard on Ministers? Almost all of their controversies have been self-inflicted or personality driven issues.
We haven't even reached 'Media asking ministers about how much they are actually getting done'. Although I suppose accountability on performance grounds would be considered bullying by some.
Should the media ignore Ministers who lie in the house, file false declarations and get arrested by police? You seem to be asking for outright favouritism and for the media to solely function as a 'good news' outlet for the government. That's not the role of the Fourth Estate in a functional democracy.
Who do we want to win this election?
National : Results in a more divided society and increases the gap between rich and poor. More misery for one's trying to get ahead in life. The ones already ahead will get more in their pocket and probably an increase in inflation.
Labour : New Leader trying to reset the mess left by the policies introduced by someone who didn't care about the future or take any accountability for promises made and nothing delivered.
The smaller parties who want to take advantage of MMP and making promises which might help a few in the short run but no real long term policy for helping the country.
No wonder so many ministers are having mental issues as they cannot do any good for their regions or the country. It's all stuck in the bureaucracy of it all. Trying to please everyone.
Need a strong mind leader who can bring in a change for good and public needs to support them for the long term future of the country.
I am no strategist but just my two cents. Let's not think short term at this juncture of time and rather work for long term propesperity of country and the ones living in it.
Both main parties are about growing their voter base.
Labour grow their voter base by making people poorer and more welfare dependent whereas National grow their voter base by making people wealthier and less dependent on welfare.
The last thing Labour needs is the poor getting ideas about success and wealth.
sadly - Labour have widened the gap between Rich and Poor more than any National Government ever did
Labour were directly responsible for the 30% one year house price growth -- through their $$$ policies that put so much cheap cash in the market - despite being warned by their own officials that was what would happen
Then we have the massive increase in debt burden -- that neither main party seems keen to address
nutters to the left of them nutters to the right of them nutters right in front of them --- its a DOOMED charge of the election brigade
go to the ballot box and deliberately spoil your paper -- write None of you are worth my vote!
See my post below - if semi conscious and talented, why would you put your hand up for this?
I left Wellington many years ago after realising the place was not good for one's mental health (among various government agencies) - the working environment was extremely toxic.
Can only imagine how terrible it is now after what has been going on there in recent years.
+100. The working conditions, pay and lifestyle are better for almost anything else if you're any good at it.
I believe I would be effective at it, but it would represent such a huge step backwards in so many ways and there's nothing about the cut and thrust or ego play involved that appeals. I'm just not interested. I may have been once but I've moved on to bigger and better things, as far as I'm concerned.
There would be huge swathes of far more talented and capable people out there who feel the same.
As for Wellington... I have my own thoughts about that. Decades of being insulated from the same pressures the rest of the country faces are starting to have consequences. Failed exceptionalism within a larger bubble of exceptionalism is not a recipe for a great place to live.
Who would want to be a politician? If you were even semi conscious and talented, why would you put yourself up for this?
As it stands, one's ego must be greater than their common-sense/prudence for them to be suckered into office - and that then becomes a problem because collectively as as result you have ego's running the country and not goodwill/goodgrace of competent individuals - i.e. the key elements you need for a wise, stable, visionary government.
Until this changes, I think democracy across most western nations is in trouble. I see it as a problem in the US and the anglosphere. Leadership based upon ego, not values and principles that will bring people together for the greater good of society/nations.
Just checking if you are aware that capital gains have always without fail been greater under labour governments than national ones in the last 25 years. Even with the current down turn in prices they are still 50% higher than when labour took office. In 6 years labour raised prices by more than National did in 9!
Yeah I've seen that said before and certainly there has been huge price gains since the pandemic but they are much more to do with what the reserve bank did than anything Labour did. You can't say that National's policy changes below will make prices go up less than Labour going forward.
1. Reinstate interest deductibility to investors
2. Reduce the bright line test
3. Likely allow foreign property buyers
4. Encourage lower density housing
5. Tell the reserve bank not to consider sustainable house prices.
6. Likely increase immigration more to ensure an extreme housing deficit.
7. Allow people to use Kiwisaver to pay for rental bonds (making it easier for landlords to raise rents)
Robertson basically lent the banks an unlimited amount of money at 0% and told them to loan it out -- leading to the house price rises -- which were the only game in town during and post covid -- start ups or other productive things were too unstable and risky in a potential covid/lockdown environment.
They could do everything except 3 and it would barely register whilst interest rates are at 7%+ no the market is stalled or falling at 7% levels
Yes, how terrible that National policies encourage rental housing so that people aren't forced to live on the streets or in emergency motels. How dare they! I mean, the 500% increase in the public housing waitlist under Labour is a good thing right? The 913% increase in the amount of money spent on emergency housing (from $36m a year to $365m a year) is just loose change, easily funded by more debt, so why worry? We should be demanding that more people are housed by the taxpayer for free not less.
As for rents, the 44% increase in median rent under the Labour Govt is simply the Labour Govt trying to shore up their voter base by making renters dependent on public housing. #winning
Democracy working
Watched our Prime Minister front up to yet another disastrous home goal for this Labour Government this morning.
However did reflect that in many countries such happenings would never see the light of day. Even our one eyed press coverage would have never happened. Glass half full and roll on October 14th.
You are bang on there, so much internal fighting, backstabbing, lying, they are suppose to be there to support the tax payer and businesses that employ the tax payer, but we have this shambles. I still can't believe they have the voter base the polls are saying, I mean what a disgrace to the nation they have turned into.
This government is an unmitigated disaster.
If this was a male Pakeha Minister from the National Party, the media would portray him as a criminal. In this case the media will focus on Kiri being a young Maori woman struggling with mental heath under the immense pressure of parliamentary duties.
Case in point being the TPM co-leader, who has come out saying ""I hope we as a nation have some empathy to some of the issues we contend with in these roles and contend with as wāhine Māori." In other words, "it's not really her fault, because she's the wrong ethnicity and gender for it to be her fault, and it's a tough job" - the sort of wonderful reasoning we can look forward to if enough people still opt to party vote Labour come October.
I actually have sympathy (or is it empathy - I never paid much attention to that lesson in high school English) for Kiri Allan with respect to the fact she's had a horrific health problem to contend with, and clearly some personal relationship challenges. She must feel an enormous sense of pressure to serve in the role she does despite various personal 'demons'. That pressure is clearly too much, and I say it without any sense of condescension or irony that I wish her the best for making a recovery in all aspects of her life.
I'd think the same if she was stale, male and pale, or pale and female, or any other combination of personal characteristics.
However, at this level of public service it's a different ball game, and if your personal life prevents you from serving those you are elected to represent, then perhaps you need to look elsewhere. Likewise, if you find the job too hard, you need to quit.
To his credit, Todd Mueller seemed to recognise this and step away from the fold - whether he should have stuck his head above the parapet or not in the first place is a different story.
In other words, "it's not really her fault, because she's the wrong ethnicity and gender for it to be her fault, and it's a tough job
This is shorthand for she qualifies well to be in TPM. Angry, Lesbian Maori, Angry and a Crim, drunk too. Perfect addition to the team.
It was the same for Marram Davidson of the green party. She was running her mouth of that "straight white males are the most dangerous" . Her excuse was she had been hit by a motorbike earlier. We all know her comments were nothing but a slur and to belittle people who's ancestors were originally from Europe. We also all know if it had been a New Zealander with only European ancestry making comments about skin colour he would have been vilified and fired. It's a total double standard.
Maybe the problem is more the need to hide everything these days, our MPs can't be human (the issues have been both left and right).
Muldoon called a snap election while drunk! I'm not really saying Allen's drink driving was OK especially as justice minister, but some of the others like Michael Wood were hardly the end of the world.
The problem is they lie, bluff and fake it and it is a strategy. This is endemic in the party now.
Allen could have taken an extended period of time off and come back gradually like Muller.
Wood could have been honest about his entire position.
They chose to pull the wool, and quite frankly you should have figured out by now that they have been instructed to do that. They know eventually the media have to move on to the next thing.
Ever wonder why they never apologise? Trained not to under any circumstances.
Same with the OIA responses. Instructed not to compromise the minister, and if the media do the leg work and expose it, just move to the next step in the playbook and blame the office staff.
Seriously, drain the swamp.
Same with the OIA responses. Instructed not to compromise the minister, and if the media do the leg work and expose it, just move to the next step in the playbook and blame the office staff.
100% and no doubt this occurred pre-COVID, but the invasive culture of avoidance and secrecy that has spread from the top down from the beehive to other govt departments is an indictment of the true nature of those that make up the Labour party.
How about we shift the narrative and talk about a Justice Minister who broke several laws and only by luck didn’t destroy the life of another “human”. How about we talk about drunk drivers (like her) who kill and maim dozens of innocent kiwis every year and the “support and help” these victims NEVER receive.
Agreed. The absolute worst thing he could do (from a political perspective) is stick the boot into Kiri Allan. It would be a bit 'on the nose' and all of a sudden the story would be about how Luxon the mean old stale Pakeha toady is unfairly attacking her, and how he is exploiting a mental health crisis for political gain.
All he, and National/ACT, needs to do is sit back, not say anything and watch the fireworks.
Honestly (and I say this as someone who isn't a fan of Luxon) he did a good job with his response here, and also to the shooting the other day. I suspect the media were anticipating he'd jump straight to "this is a clear consequence of Labour's soft on crime policies", but he was sensible enough to offer condolences, hint at the underlying issue but say it's not the time to discuss that, and then walk away.
Is it possible the black ute was a target? The owner hasn't come forward. Apparently the road was wide at that point. It doesnt look like it was hit from behind but swung into.The question has to be asked surely? If not thats good. But everyone is assuming the ute was a bystander so to speak. Was it?
The Marori Party's stand with Allen is felt to be a punch in the face to every victim (& their family & friends) of car-crash's caused by drink drivers. Is the Marori Party's excuse "she wasn't in a good space" going to be the excuse for all Marori drink-drivers who kill, maim, and cause huge financial harm to their victims.
The Marori Party's alleged innate hatred and racism seems to be fully on display by their seemingly complete disregard of any sympathy for the victim (who's personal time and $ are adversely effected) of Allen's unlawful actions.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.