Person who recorded row no longer on staff

The person who recorded the row between outgoing National MP Nick Smith and a staffer no longer works at Parliament.

Smith abruptly called time on his 30-year political career on Monday, citing the loss of the Nelson seat and a Parliamentary Service inquiry into a “verbal altercation” in his Wellington office.

Smith said the investigation into the spat that happened last July is ongoing and the best course of action was for him to resign.

He also believed details of that inquiry had been leaked and would hit the headlines on Tuesday, but no such story has appeared.

Other than her Wednesday media round, leader Judith Collins has refused to speak to journalists about Smith’s resignation but RNZ managed to question her as she left a kiwifruit pack house in the Bay of Plenty on Thursday.

She refused to say if she or anyone from her office had advised Smith a media organisation was set to run a story about the inquiry.

When asked who she believed told Smith about the story if her office hadn’t, Collins refused to speculate. “I think it’s really important I don’t go down the path of trying to work out who’s done what, where and how. But I’m very clear that if I ever hear of any media interest in any of our MPs I will always let them know. I think that’s the right thing to do.

“As to the discussions I’ve had personally with Nick, I can say he’s feeling good and we’re looking forward to hopefully having him come back next week.”

Collins has previously said the Parliamentary Service was alerted to the argument by a staff member of another MP who recorded the spat and then made a complaint.

Without some form of defence the recording would likely be illegal, Collins told RNZ.

“Having said that, I’m just giving you my legal advice on it. The second thing is that, of course, I’ve never heard it, don’t know the details and haven’t been advised of all the details.”

Collins said she didn’t know the person who made the recording personally. “I don’t know the person myself. I probably would if I were to see the person.”

The person no longer works for National or the Parliamentary Service, Collins said.

It is not clear when the staffer left Parliament and under what circumstances.