Curran calamity
Labour MP and minister Clare Curran has been removed from Cabinet.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had removed her from Cabinet and accepted her offer to resign her government digital services portfolio and open government responsibilities, following a second failure to properly declare a meeting.
The meeting that led to Curran’s demotion was with well-known entrepreneur Derek Handley over the role of the Government’s chief technology officer (CTO).
In February, Curran met Handley at her Beehive office in her capacity as Minister of Government Digital Services to discuss his interest in the vacant CTO role. The meeting took place after the first unsuccessful recruitment round for the CTO. As with approaches from other interested parties, the minister directed Handley to register his interest with Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) officials.
It was not recorded in Curran’s diary and neither the minister’s staff nor officials were made aware of it.
Curran subsequently omitted the information about the meeting in an answer to a recent written Parliamentary question.
‘‘The failure to record the meeting in her diary; inform her staff and officials; and accurately answer Parliamentary questions has left the minister open to the accusation that she deliberately sought to hide the meeting,’’
Ardern said.
Curran’s failure to declare the meeting with Handley comes after similar issues surrounding a meeting with Carol Hirschfeld, then senior executive of state-owned broadcaster Radio NZ, earlier in the year. Curran did not immediately declare a meeting with Hirschfeld at Wellington’s Astoria Cafe in an answer to a written question from National’s Melissa Lee, arguing later that she had considered it to be an ‘‘informal’’ catchup. She admitted this was ‘‘naive’’.
Hirschfeld resigned from RNZ after repeatedly telling her bosses the meeting had been coincidental and not planned (she is now Stuff’s head of video/audio and content partnerships). This story fell apart when her bosses showed her evidence it had been planned.
Ardern said Curran’s actions regarding Handley was the second ‘‘misjudgment, and is not in keeping with my expectations, or the minister’s expectations of herself’’.
‘‘The failure to record the meeting in her diary; inform her staff and officials; and accurately answer Parliamentary questions has left the Minister open to the accusation that she deliberately sought to hide the meeting.,’’ Jacinda Ardern
As a result, Ardern decided to remove Curran from Cabinet. ‘‘Transparency is important, even more so for Curran given her open government responsibilities.’’
Curran said she took full responsibility for not following proper process. The meeting should have been in her diary, and her staff should have been informed.
‘‘I have let myself and the Prime Minister down and my resignations today are the consequence of my error. I am committed to making our Government more open and ensuring that creatives and innovators in digital services have a voice at the table. I’m proud of the work I have undertaken.’’
She said she was keen to put her head down and focus on her remaining portfolios.
‘‘To the absolute best of my knowledge’’ these were the only two undeclared meetings, Curran said.
She also said the meeting with Handley was ‘‘not a job interview’’.
Curran defended using her personal Gmail account, saying it was ‘‘another mode of communication’’ and her emails had been released to be accountable.
She will retain the ministerial portfolios of broadcasting and associate ACC, and will be a minister outside Cabinet.
State Services Minister Chris Hipkins would take back the open government responsibilities, which were delegated to Curran, and Megan Woods would take over the government digital services portfolio, the prime minister said.
The CTO appointment process was in its final stages, but Curran would have no further involvement in it, with Hipkins taking over that process and finalising the details of the appointment and the implementation of the CTO role.
Ardern also apologised to Handley, saying he was brought into the issue through no fault of his own.
Handley could not immediately be reached for comment.