Whaitiri staffer was bruised in incident, National claims
The staff member at the centre of an incident involving former government minister Meka Whaitiri was left bruised in the encounter, the National Party has claimed in Parliament.
Speaking under the protection of parliamentary privilege, National MP Amy Adams said the allegations were at least bullying and, at worst, assault.
Adams made the comments during a snap debate on Whaitiri in Parliament yesterday.
“This involves allegations of, at the very least, bullying and, at the worst, violence and assault. If we are speaking about a minister laying hands on a staff member, that is incredibly serious,” Adams said.
Adams said there had been no proper statement from the Prime Minister on what occurred, none from Whaitiri and no apology to the staff member.
“The public of New Zealand deserve to know if we have a minister of the Crown laying hands on a staff member to the extent that they end up with bruising.” Deputy Labour leader and Ma¯ori caucus member Kelvin Davis told Parliament the Ma¯ori caucus was sticking to its tikanga in its support of Whaitiri and did not have to answer to Adams for its actions.
“One of our tikanga is to stand up and support our people when they need our support,” Davis said.
That did not mean they passed judgment or agreed or disagreed with what was done, he said.
“In Ma¯oridom, it’s important to stand beside your people . . . to hold them up, just to help.
“That’s a tikanga that [ we don’t have to] justify to any Member of Parliament from the Opposition who has absolutely no idea.
“She’s standing there in judgment of us and . . . as Ma¯ori we’re sick of people like herself standing up and judging us for the way we do things.”
Comment is being sought on National’s allegations.
The details of the incident in Gisborne on August 27, between Whaitiri and a staff member who had been in her office only a week, have not been made public.
But a report into the incident by Ministerial Services was enough for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to sack Whaitiri as a minister last week, saying she had lost confidence in her.
Whaitiri disputed some elements of the report but said yesterday she accepted Ardern’s decision.
Whaitiri said she was “absolutely gutted” by her sacking.
“I accept the Prime Minister’s decision. I’m going to take the time now to reflect, and look at ways of improving myself to regain the Prime Minister’s confidence,” Whaitiri told reporters yesterday.
Ma¯ori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson said Whaitiri “100 per cent” had the confidence of the Ma¯ori caucus.
Whaitiri holds the Ma¯ori electorate of Ikaroa-Ra¯whiti.
Jackson said there was no reason why Whaitiri could not be a “strong and good MP for Ikaroa-Ra¯whiti and a leader for our caucus”.