Kiwiblog

The fall and fall of Richard Worth is the title of my latest Dispatch from St Johnnysburg at NBR. Sort of speaks for itself.

Comments can be made at NBR.

Put out by Star PR on behalf of Worth:

“The public should suspend any judgment until allegations against me have been resolved.

“I have not committed any offence. I am presently co-operating fully with the police and will continue to do so.

“There has been a rush to judgment on the basis of rumour and speculation, which has been damaging to my political career and hurtful for my family and friends.

“There is a well known principle in New Zealand that a person is presumed innocent until they have been proved guilty. At the moment, I have not even been charged with any criminal offence, let alone had the opportunity to defend myself.”

“I maintain that I am innocent of any crime, and I will defend myself vigorously against any accusations that I have broken the law.”

Whale Oil on Close Up last night talking about the Richard Worth scandal.

Whale reports that Phil Goff not only refused to go on with Whale – he also insisted that Whale be filmed earlier so they don’t share the Green Room, and then finally said he would not appear at all, if Whale was on the same show.

I find that quite ironic as on Check Point last night, Phil actually quoted “right wing bloggers” in our criticism of the initial press statement.

The Herald reveals some more details of the criminal complaint:

The person who complained to the police about former Government minister Richard Worth is an Auckland businesswoman, and her allegation is of a sexual nature.

Her identity is now fairly well known. She is a lawyer, which suggests a complaint alleging criminal offending would not be made lightly.

The alleged offending is, as I understand it, at the more serious end of the scale. But I do not have first hand knowledge of this.

The Herald has learned the woman approached a National MP’s office “to update the PM” after going to the police two weeks ago.

A friend of the woman said last night that she was distressed but pleased police were investigating.

“She has faith in the police process and trust in the Prime Minister that nobody is above the law,” the friend said.

The Herald has agreed not to reveal the identity of the woman, the friend, or her associates.

The friend said the Korean woman told him “she had reported to the police alleging inappropriate behaviour by a minister towards her”.

I hope the Police investigate quickly, but thoroughly.

Mr Key said his office was contacted by a third party on Tuesday last week, two days before the Budget.

A member of his staff had investigated, and Tuesday night this week was the first time he [the PM] had spoken to Dr Worth about it.

“I think I acted as fast as I could,” he said. “People are entitled to a degree of natural justice … It took some time to get all the information that was required.”

Considering the long weekend, I am not surprised it took a few days to gather the facts.

Mr Key said Dr Worth should use the two weeks of leave he started yesterday to consult family and friends on his future as a member of Parliament.

Dr Worth is a list MP who lives in Epsom. If he resigned from Parliament, he would be replaced by the next person on the National Party list, Devonport dentist Cam Calder.

If I was Cam Calder I would not be planning any overseas trips in the near future.

John Armstrong writes:

Messy, messy. Seeing Richard Worth being dumped from his ministerial role yesterday was like watching a slow strangulation as the nature of the allegation made against him became more and more apparent during the day.

Worth’s alleged sins are not going to damage the Government in any serious fashion. John Key has made sure of that.

By questioning whether the National MP can remain in Parliament even as an irrelevant backbencher, the Prime Minister has effectively quarantined his now-former Internal Affairs Minister from the rest of the National Party.

I agree. Also Key’s body language and tone makes it very clear that he is offended, even disgusted, by what is alleged.

What went awry for Key yesterday was his seemingly futile attempt to avoid disclosing the reasons for Worth’s “resignation”.

Which I was critical of also.

Key is proving to be an even tougher disciplinarian than his predecessor, Helen Clark. She fired plenty of ministers, but in most cases indicated there was a road back into the inner sanctum after a suitable period of penance.

Worth received no such reassurance yesterday morning. He has yet to be charged with any crime. But he was not given the option of a stand-down from his portfolios while the matter was investigated.

Quite the opposite. Key was blunt. If Worth had not resigned, he would have sacked him for failing to meet the high standards set by the Prime Minister for his ministerial colleagues.

Rough justice perhaps. But politics dictate that Key deal with the matter promptly and decisively. With some reservations, he has.

Yep. No stand down. No path back. In fact a strong suggestion that he should leave Parliament.

Colin Espiner covers a different allegation against Richard Worth that Phil Goff raised with John Key around a month ago:

Prime Minister John Key investigated claims that Internal Affairs Minister Richard Worth offered a woman a job for romantic favours a month before police began investigating other serious allegations against him. …

Key confirmed he had received earlier allegations that involved Worth making a nuisance of himself with women.

Labour leader Phil Goff said he had privately raised concerns with Key last month about allegations regarding Worth’s “inappropriate political … and sexual behaviour” towards a woman. It was a separate matter to the one currently before police.

“The allegations were essentially that Dr Worth had offered a number of different positions that were within his gift as minister to this woman, with the overtones that this was in pursuit of romantic ambitions,” Goff said.

“One was as an adviser and one was as a board member within the responsibilities of Dr Worth but the overtones were that he wanted to develop a relationship with her,” Mr Goff said on Radio New Zealand.

Goff had told Key there was evidence to suggest “inappropriate” suggestions were made in a series of emails and phone calls.

“Why I went to the prime minister is that I’d received a complaint from a woman that I knew, who is a member of the Labour party so I’ll put that right out front, but I didn’t believe her allegations were politically motivated,” Goff told Breakfast.

Goff did the right thing in raising the matter privately.He was also probably counting on John Key behaving better than Helen Clark did when she had an Opposition Party Leader raise an issue privately about a Minister (Prebble re Samuels) – Clark attacked the party leader for raising the allegation with her.

Key said he had investigated the complaints but decided there was no need to pursue the matters.

“I have had someone bring an allegation to me of that nature … and all I can say is I treated that allegation seriously. I investigated it and I was satisfied with the answers I received,” he said.

As I understand it, the later alleged offending is far far more serious than the earlier matter.  Goff says that the “overtone” of Worth’s conversations with the Labour Party member was wanting a relationship in exchange. This suggests it was not explicit and couldn’t be proven.

iPredict has stock available. Current prices:

• Nathan Guy 35%
• Craig Foss 30%
• Other 11%
• Jo Goodhew 9%
• Chester Borrow 6%
• No replacement 6%
• Tau Henare 5%
• Worth reinstated 0%

I think Key will make an announcement sooner rather than later.

Just announced:

STATEMENT FROM DR RICHARD WORTH

“It is with deep regret that I have resigned my role as a Minister.

“I am resigning from the role for personal reasons.

“I tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister last night and he accepted.

“It has been a privilege to have been a Minister in this Government.

“I will not be making any further comment to the media.

“I have been granted two weeks’ leave of absence from the House.”

I will blog more details as they are known.

John Key says:

Prime Minister John Key says he has accepted the resignation of Dr Richard Worth as a Minister in the National-led Government.

“Dr Worth tendered his resignation to me last night, and I have accepted it.

“He advised me of some private matters in respect of which he felt it appropriate that he should resign as a Minister. I accepted his resignation and have advised the Governor-General accordingly.

“I will not be making further comment on the matters he has advised me about.

“Dr Worth’s ministerial responsibilities will be temporarily transferred to Maurice Williamson. I will be making an announcement about permanent appointments to the portfolios in the near future.”

Now this is just ridicolous. You can’t have a secret resignation – or a resignation for undisclosed reasons. The Government is bonkers if they think the reasons won’t come out, let alone that they do not have a duty to disclose them. And refusing to state the reasons will keep it as a story for days and weeks, instead of a three day wonder.

If you resign as a Minister, you need to say why you are resigning. Not the full details, but at least some reason.

Worth was Minister of Internal Affairs, Land Information, Archives, National Library and Associate Justice. It will be interesting if his portfolios get dished out to other Ministers, or will there be an early promotion for a backbencher?

UPDATE2: The more I think about this, the more stupid it is not to state why he has resigned. As in majorly stupid. The public will wonder what the Government is hiding, the Opposition will assume the worst, the media will dig up dirt until they find the reason, and the Governments looks shifty. Before it is too late, the Government should arrange for either Key or Worth to explain why Worth resigned – the public have a right to know. Or they should at least leak the reson damn quick, so the story doesn’t go on for weeks and weeks.

UPDATE3: I am hearing that there will be a new Minister appointed and it is between Chief Whip Nathan Guy and Finance & Expenditure Select Committee Chair Craig Foss.

UPDATE4: Worth is the subject of a criminal investigation. This would explain why there are no details, but would have been easier if they had said this was the case from the beginning. NZPA reports:

Wellington police said today an allegation had been made against “a sitting member of Parliament”.

Police were conducting a preliminary investigation.

Prime Minister John Key accepted Dr Worth’s resignation last night.

Mr Key told reporters he would have sacked Dr Worth, had he not resigned. He confirmed it was criminal investigation.

It is the right thing that Worth has gone as a Minister of he is facing a criminal investigation.

Mr Key was alerted to the matter last week, before the MP told him about it.

Ouch. That would not be a good look.

Now no doubt in time the details of the investigation and any charges against Worth will be made public. He is of course innocent until found guilty, but I think it is fair to conclude his parliamentary career is all but over.

It is premature to speculate, but Cam Calder may end up an MP yet.

UPDATE5: Key has not been subtle at his press conference.

“All I can tell you is his conduct does not befit a minister and I will not have him in my Cabinet,” Mr Key told a press conference this morning.

“If he hadn’t resigned I would have sacked him.” …

Mr Key said an outside party had informed his office of the allegation of a “relatively recent” incident last week.

Dr Worth had not come to him about it.

Dr Worth has been given a two-week leave of absence from Parliament: “because I think he needs some time to reflect on his future and whether he intends to stay as an MP”.

Mr Key said it was up to Dr Worth to decide whether to leave Parliament, but if police laid charges he may be suspended or expelled from Caucus.

`Ultimately whether he stays as a member of parliament is a matter at this point for him to consider.

“I urge him to consider his own future, and take counsel with his own family and friends.

“It may be in the fullness of time he is not appropriate to be a member of parliament. But that is not something I can adjudicate on at this time.”

Mr Key said the resignation had nothing to do with those.

“The decision that has been reached today has been reached on the back of this incident and nothing else.”

The allegations sound pretty dire, to say the least. But great to see Key set such a firm line on behaviour. I remember Clark and Cullen defending Field for months.

I was probably a bit too harsh before in criticising the Government’s handling of this.  Key has now provided the reason for the resignation, without going into details which are a matter for the Police inquiry. The original PR though said no further comment would be made, and then Key does a press conference so I think the message could have been better – but can’t really fault Key’s response now.

UPDATE6: NewstalkZB reports:

The Prime Minister has dropped another bombshell on his way into the debating chamber, revealing it is not the first time he has investigated Richard Worth for allegedly harassing women.

Dr Worth has today resigned from Cabinet and is being investigated by police. Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper says it is clear from what John Key says, that it involves a woman.

I may be wrong but all the indications are that it seems to be some sort of allegation of sexual assault. Now that is not confirmed, and no doubt the Police will in time say something, but I understand TV tonight is likely to report along these lines.

The Press Editorial:

The allegation against Worth was that, during his private business trip, he had encouraged Indian student pilots to train in New Zealand. His problem was that at the time he was a director of New Zealand Aviation, which has links to an Invercargill air training academy.

Labour seized on this as a conflict of interest and also said that he was referred to as a Government minister when he was in India, despite saying that his trip was private. After the allegations emerged, Worth did resign from NZ Aviation, after being told to do so by Key, but his initial decision not to do so after becoming a minister was naive in the extreme. By contrast, Cabinet member Tim Groser did take the advice of officials and resigned from the same company after he was made Minister of Trade and before a portfolio-related trip to India.

After years in Opposition all National’s new ministers, many of whom will have had business links before entering government, might have been expected to err on the side of caution when it came to conflicts of interest. They should have been well aware that even the perception of a conflict can be politically damaging to themselves and their party.

Indeed.  Once you are a Minister you should rid yourself of all your other interests, if possible. And those you can not should be passive or through a blind trust etc.

The attacks on Worth should also send a salutary message to all his ministerial colleagues that, although the new Government has enjoyed a political honeymoon, they must always remember that Labour will be targeting their weakest links and will ruthlessly exploit any real or perceived conflicts of interest. And if further conflicts do occur, it seems likely that Key will do more than just give the culprit a bollocking.

I think it is a very safe bet the next episode will have unfortunate consequences for the Minister.

Before I turn to the substance, let us all laugh at this claim from Phil Goff:

“They (directorships) should have been resigned immediately. He would have been briefed as soon as he became minister,” Mr Goff told Radio New Zealand.

“I think that if you breach the cabinet manual in terms of conflict of interest, you’re gone.

“That was certainly the way (former prime minister) Helen Clark ran (things) and I would, too.”

Two words – Winston Peters.

Winston trampled all over the Cabinet Manual. He didn’t declare multiple gifts. He had wealthy donors pay personal expenses on his behalf, and then advocated policy changes that would benefit them. He never declared any of these interests.

And what did Phil Goff and Helen Clark do? They defended Peters. They even voted against the Privileges Committee report (something not even Jim Anderton could bring himself to do).

So Goff’s claim that Labour would have sacked Worth, should be seen for the bullshit it is.

Worth is a brand new Ministers. Key in his own words has bollocked him and given him a final warning. That by itself is a million miles more than what Labour did in the past.

I am glad to see Key take a very tough line here. I am a bit of a purist and think a Minister is a fulltime job. Business interests should be put to one side during your time as a Minister.

The Herald reports four contenders for Speaker. They are:

1. Lockwood Smith
2. John Carter
3. Eric Roy
4. Richard Worth

They each have their own claims for the job. Lockwood is National’s longest serving MP. John Carter has been a Whip for many years, knowing Standing Orders well. Eric Roy was a very popular Assistant Speaker and Richard Worth would being a first class legal talent to the role.

This may dismay some, but I think Michael Cullen would also be a damn good Speaker. But I think his latest game playing over Treasury accounts has killed off any chance that he could be seen to make the transition from partisan player to referee.

As for the four candidates, it will presumably go to a National Caucus decision and then the preferred candidate checked with coalition partners.

But wouldn’t it be nice if it was left to the House as a whole to decide? If all parties would agree not to apply the whip and allow a free vote, then they could have a preferential ballot as allowed for in Standing Order 19. It would be fascinating to see all MPs vote from their seats.

I presume two of the unsucessful candidates will probably become Assistant Speakers and that Labour’s Ross Robertson will be Deputy Speaker.

UPDATE: Mallard is against Lockwood being Speaker. That probably helps Lockwood immensely.

The NZ Herald looks at Auckland Central, Epsom and Maungakiekie.

Auckland Central:

That is not troubling the motivated Kaye, who is running a vigorous and old-fashioned door-knocking campaign. National Party sources say that although raised in conservative Epsom and Kohimarama, she is more socially liberal and environmentally active than most in the party.

On the other hand, Tizard has more than 40 years of family political history and nous to draw on. Name recognition, strong links with the gay and other communities and being a junior minister in transport and the arts help. Then again, she has received criticism for her now-defunct role of Minister for Auckland Issues.

Epsom:

Worth, who became a list MP, is standing again, but says he is firmly concentrating on increasing National’s party vote of 58.5 per cent in 2005 to 70 per cent.

“How people decide to cast their constituency vote is an issue for them.”

With Act polling well below the 5 per cent threshold to gain list seats in Parliament, National needs Hide to win Epsom and hopefully provide two or more Act MPs for a National-led coalition.

Maungakiekie:

Labour is replacing one unionist (Mr Gosche is a former national secretary of the Service and Food Workers Union) with another, Carol Beaumont, secretary of the Council of Trade Unions. …

Samoan-born Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga is the National candidate. Not only is he among a new bunch of young, highly educated 28-to-45-year-olds offering new blood and values for National, but he is also part of an attempt to boost the party’s ethnic diversity.