Man who sued Mallard has active employment case
Trevor Mallard has admitted he almost immediately regretted a claim that led to a $333,000 legal bill.
The man who sued Speaker Trevor Mallard over a ‘‘rape’’ comment has an ongoing employment case against Parliamentary Service, it has been revealed.
The Speaker was grilled by the governance and administration select committee yesterday over a defamation cast against him that has cost the taxpayer $333,000. National PartyMPs are calling for the Speaker to resign over the matter.
Mallard said he almost immediately regretted describing the series of sexual assault complaints in a review of parliamentary culture as ‘‘rape’’ – but he did not apologise for the matter sooner as it became an employment issue and then a legal case.
Proceedings were brought against Mallard by a parliamentary staffer, who said he felt bullied out of Parliament by the Speaker after Mallard falsely described allegations of ‘‘sexual assault’’ as rape.
Mallard had been discussing a complaint of a ‘‘sexual assault’’ contained in the Debbie Francis review of Parliament on Radio NZ in 2019, when he said he interpreted that as rape.
‘‘We are talking about serious sexual assault, well that, for me, that is rape. That is the impression I get from the report,’’ Mallard said.
Mallard said he had not connected these allegations to this individual in that interview – and he had not known about the case. But later in the day when a new investigation was opened and the man was stood down, Mallard did say a danger to women had been removed from the building.
Parliamentary Service chief executive Raf Gonzalez said the man still had an open employment claim against Parliamentary Service, that had cost about $37,500 in legal fees thus far.
The Speaker apologised to the staffer at the centre of a matter at the start of the select committee hearing, saying he had an incorrect understanding of what constituted ‘‘rape’’ at the time. He also apologised to the public, Parliament, and the women who came forward to the Francis Review.
Mallard issued an apology to the media, apologising to the man for the ‘‘distress and humiliation’’ caused to him.
‘‘Trevor Mallard accepts that his understanding of the definition of rape at that time was incorrect and that the alleged conduct did not amount to rape [as that term is defined in the Crimes Act 1961] and that it was incorrect of him to suggest otherwise,’’ the statement said.
Mallard yesterday said the error had distracted from those who came forward to the Francis Review and he regretted that. ‘‘My error has diverted attention away from their stories and the good work that is being done to improve the culture of Parliament. That is something I regret.’’
He also reiterated that the decision to change the rules so that any Speaker’s legal costs would be covered wasmade on a bipartisan basis and the specific decision around his legal costs was made by Deputy Speaker Anne Tolley, not him.
Amember of the Taxpayers’ Union lobby group held amock invoice while dressed in the group’s pig mascot costume during the committee meeting but was asked to leave before questions began.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said Labour retains confidence in Mallard as Speaker, despite the ‘‘mistake’’.