Support ‘humbles’ suspended minister
and Suspended minister Meka Whaitiri says she is co-operating fully with a ministerial inquiry into her conduct with a staff member but has thrown no light on what took place.
“I am co-operating with the investigation and I’ve got no further comment,” she told reporters at Parliament.
She spoke briefly about the suspension after speaking at Parliament yesterday to support a Treaty of Waitangi settlement bill relating to Te Rohe o Te Wairoa in her Ikaroa Rawhiti electorate.
She said she had had huge support following her suspension, which was announced on Wednesday last week by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“Unbelievable support and I’m very humbled by that,” she said.
“My people here today have made me realise that there is a bigger cause in life and that’s why I came to Parliament, to do these things,” she said.
Whaitiri was stood down after a new press secretary laid a complaint with Ministerial Services alleging the minister had shoved her.
The alleged incident took place in Gisborne on Monday last week where Whaitiri was accompanying Ardern to a summit with the East Coast iwi of Ngati Porou.
But Whaitiri and the staffer dispute what actually happened and it is understood there were no witnesses.