Barry complaint being considered
A former staffer of Maggie Barry has laid a complaint with the auditor-general over allegations the embattled National MP forced parliamentary staff to carry out party political work.
That would be a misuse of parliamentary funding, which is funded by the taxpayer.
A spokesman for the Office of the Auditor-General has confirmed concerns had been raised and it was considering the complaint but had not yet launched any investigation.
It is the latest step from a disgruntled former employee, who has leaked to a number of media outlets a series of different recordings, texts and memos from Barry in which she appeared to ask them to carry out political work, while drawing down a taxpayer funded salary.
The former employee says the pressure that came from her was relentless and they felt they had no option but to comply or lose their jobs.
Two staff complaints had already been investigated by Parliamentary Services, and no wrongdoing was found.
Barry has rejected all claims of bullying and the inappropriate use of parliamentary resources.
A spokeswoman for her said it ‘‘not appropriate to comment on individual employment matters’’.
National Party leader Simon Bridges defended her as a ‘‘hard working MP’’, but said given the auditor-general was looking at the complaint, he could not say much more.
The staff member has confirmed to Stuff they were also taking their complaints to the parliamentary bullying inquiry, recently set up by Speaker Trevor Mallard.
Barry’s alleged use of staff to do party political work was due to a breakdown of the party apparatus in her local electorate, the former staffer has said.
The staffer said National’s North Shore electorate was a mess with a number of different electorate chairs taking the reins during Barry’s seven years as an electorate MP.
‘‘The reason she was getting her staff to do party work is because she has really neglected the North Shore National electorate, she doesn’t have any volunteers.’’
Text messages released to Stuff appear to show Barry coordinating and requesting party materials be produced by staffers during working hours.