The 2020 email that saw Stuart Nash sacked from cabinet had been identified, and deemed out of scope, despite directly requesting communications between Nash and a list of donors, the prime minister’s office has now acknowledged. The request was discussed with staff in the prime minister’s office on three occasions.
Two staff members in the prime minister’s office, Holly Donald, who is deputy chief of staff, and another unnamed senior adviser, were made aware of the 2021 OIA, which was not escalated to the former prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, or her then chief of staff Raj Nahna, according to a PMO statement. Both have apologised for an “error of judgement in not recognising the significance of the email and escalating it at the time”.
“This is not acceptable and Stuart Nash’s email should have been raised with the prime minister at the time,” said Hipkins in a statement. “I have made it very clear that staff that I expect matters like this to be escalated to me. I have accepted the apology of the staff involved and believe this was an oversight. Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office deal with large volumes of information every day and errors of judgment do occur. However I’ve made my expectation clear and don’t expect such an error to occur again.”
He added: “Regardless, the onus was on Stuart Nash to review his correspondence and identify this email himself. I asked him on two occasions to provide an assurance there were no further actions I should be aware of where he may have breached the Cabinet Manual. He had the responsibility to alert me to this email and did not. I have already removed Stuart Nash from Cabinet and stripped him of his ministerial portfolios, and asked the Cabinet Office to undertake a review of his correspondence with donors to check there are no other instances like this. I await the outcome of that review.”
The OIA was appealed to the ombudsman but subsequently dropped as the requester, Pete McKenzie for Newsroom, decided not to pursue it.
Nash was sacked from cabinet this week after reports that in 2020 the then minister had breached confidentiality and collective responsibility rules by emailing two of his donors information about cabinet discussions on commercial rent relief during Covid, as well as expressing his own opposition to the decision.
Chris Hipkins subsequently told parliament that the email in question had been sighted by the PM’s office, though neither by him, his predecessor, nor their chiefs of staff. National leader Christopher Luxon accused Hipkins’ office of a “cover-up”.
The prime minister’s office provided the following timeline:
2020
3 June Cabinet Committee agrees to amend the Property Law Act to include an implied clause into leases, with criteria include businesses having 20 or fewer FTE per lease site. Also agreed to government support for arbitration.
4 June PR from Minister Little announcing the Government will temporarily amend the Property Law Act to insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair reduction in rent, and $40m support for arbitration
5 June Stuart Nash sends email to Greg Loveridge and Troy Bowker
30 June Property Law Act changes do not proceed after NZ First withdraws support. $40 million in arbitration still proceeds.
2021
8 June Stuart Nash’s office receives an OIA asking for all written correspondence between himself and a list of individuals. This is discussed with staff in the Prime Minister’s Office on three occasions.
30 July Stuart Nash’s office emails the deputy Chief of Staff Holly Donald and a senior advisor with the emails found in relation to the request noting that in their view they were out of scope as they weren’t received by Stuart Nash in his capacity as Minister. This includes the email of 5 June 2020. The Prime Minister’s Office did not reply.
27 Sept Cabinet agrees to a Bill amending the Property Law Act
28 Sept PR from Ministers Faafoi and Williams announcing changes to the Property Law Act to help those affected by Covid-19 restrictions
2 Nov The Covid-19 Response (Management Measures) Legislation Bill received Royal Assent, This includes changes to the Property Law Act.
2022
1 March Stuart Nash receives a letter from the Ombudsman regarding an investigation into his response to the 8 92021 OIA.
17 March Stuart Nash’s office drafts a response to the Ombudsman and shares it with the Prime Minister’s Office. This did not include a copy of the 5 June 2020 email but did include a reference to withholding documents under s9(2)(j). The Prime Minister’s Office did not reply.
29 March Stuart Nash replies to the Ombudsman including a redacted version of the 5 June 2020 email. Includes an explanation that the email was in his capacity as a Labour Member of Parliament rather than in his capacity as Minister.
30 March Office of the Ombudsman responds to Nash’s office, acknowledging receipt of his response.
25 May Office of the Ombudsman emails Stuart Nash’s office saying they would not be pursuing the complaint and the investigation was closed.