List of political scandals in New Zealand

The following is a list of governmental and public sector scandals in New Zealand. While New Zealand generally scores very well on international indices of corruption, there have been several notable high-profile scandals including cases of cover-ups relating to politics, economics, or public sector debacles, or to the private lives of individual government representatives.

List of scandals

1890s

• 1892 - Mayor of Wellington Arthur Winton Brown absconds to Australia to escape the consequences of the possible collapse of his businesses.
• 1898 - Liberal Party MP William Larnach commits suicide in a parliament committee room, the result of impending financial disasters and (reputedly) rumours over a sexual relationship between his wife and her step-son.^[1]

1900s

A cartoon depicting the "Voucher incident" showing New Liberal moderates distancing themselves from Fisher.

• 1905 - Francis Fisher, a ringleader of the New Liberal Party caused much controversy in the so-called "voucher incident",^[2] in which he alleged that Richard Seddon's son had been received payment from a government department for work he had not done. The allegations were subsequently disproven, and the New Liberals suffered considerable public backlash.

1910s

• 1918 - MP Paddy Webb is controversially sent to jail for refusing military service.^[3]

1930s

• 1934 - Sir Apirana Ngata then Minister of Native Affairs in the United-Reform Coalition government resigns as minister after accusations of departmental maladministration and favouritism were supported by a Royal Commission.
• 1935 - Officials from New Zealand's national radio service, at the time part of the New Zealand Post Office, attempt to block a broadcast by the popular Rev. Colin Scrimgeour, fearing that he would advise his listeners to vote for the opposition Labour Party. The National Party government is implicated, causing a furore.^[4]
• 1938–39 - The Lee Affair: Severe disharmony is caused within the Labour Party by a long running feud between Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and senior Labour Party member John A. Lee.

1970s

Sir Robert Muldoon (centre) was at the centre of several political controversies during his time as Prime Minister (1975-1984).

• 1970 - An ugly, public leadership struggle between Vernon Cracknell and his deputy John O'Brien for leadership of the Social Credit Party ended in disaster. It cumulated with brawling between supporters of each candidate with considerable damage done to the party's image. O'Brien was the victor, but his blunt and confrontational style caused him to lose his position after only a short time in office. He then split from Social Credit, founding his own New Democratic Party.
• 1976 - Fitzgerald v Muldoon: Prime Minister Robert Muldoon advised the Governor-General to abolish Labour's superannuation scheme without new legislation. In the case it was found that revoking a law in such a manner without consent of Parliament was illegal under the Bill of Rights 1689.^[5]
• 1976 - Labour MP Gerald O'Brien is charged with molesting two boys. Case thrown out.^[6]
• 1977 - The Moyle Affair: Muldoon accuses high-ranking Labour Party MP Colin Moyle of having been questioned by the police on suspicion of homosexual activities, at that time illegal in New Zealand. Moyle is forced to resign from parliament.
• 1977 - Muldoon advised Queen Elizabeth II to appoint Sir Keith Holyoake as Governor-General upon Sir Denis Blundell's term ending. As the Governor-General is a non-partisan position this caused much controversy with Labour leader Bill Rowling criticizing the appointment as cronyism and complaining that he had not been consulted on the appointment, stating he would remove Holyoake should Labour win the 1978 general election.^[7]

1980s

• 1984 - Independent MP John Kirk, the son of former Prime Minister Norman Kirk, absconds, owing more than $280,000. He is arrested in the US, held in prison, and then extradited to New Zealand.^[3]
• 1984 - Following the 1984 general election a constitutional crisis occurred when Muldoon refused to act on instruction of the incoming government, causing a growing currency crisis to worsen. Eventually he relented, after his position as National Party leader was threatened by members of his caucus.^[8] Prior to the snap election, Muldoon had announced its date to journalists while being very clearly drunk.^[9][10]
• 1986 - The Māori loan affair: an unauthorised attempt by Te Puni Kōkiri (the government's Māori Affairs Department) to raise money overseas for Māori development.

1990s

Populist New Zealand First MP Winston Peters was responsible for the release to parliament of the papers which led to the Winebox Inquiry.

Investigative journalist Nicky Hager, whose books — most notably The Hollow Men and Dirty Politics — have explored several political scandals since the 1990s.

• 1994 - The Winebox Inquiry investigates alleged corruption and incompetence in both the Serious Fraud Office and Inland Revenue Department. The inquiry is instigated after revelations by New Zealand First MP Winston Peters, and named after his habit of keeping the allegation documents in a winebox.
• 1995–96 - The "Antoinette Beck" affair: National/New Zealand First MP Michael Laws resigns after being subject to a conflict of interest inquiry over employing a company partly owned by his wife to conduct a poll, signed off by a non-existent "Antoinette Beck".^[11]
• 1996 - Governor General Sir Michael Hardie Boys caused much controversy over openly stating his opposition to Minister of Youth Affairs Deborah Morris's suggestion that young people have access to contraceptives.^[12]
• 1999 - INCIS: Abandonment of the Integrated National Crime Information System, a computer network intended to be used in coordination of police resources, amid massive cost over-runs and operational problems.
• 1999 - New Zealand First MP Tuariki John Delamere is forced to resign as Minister of Immigration after it emerged that he had approved permanent residency for a group of Chinese businessmen provided they invested generously in various Māori development schemes.

2000s

• 2000 - Dover Samuels resigned as Minister of Maori Affairs pending an investigation into alleged sex crimes he had committed before he entered politics.^[13]
• 2001 - Sir Michael Hardie Boys created a further controversy after making an implied critique of the Clark Labour Government's plan to scrap the air defence wing of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.^[12]
• 2002 - Corngate: an investigation into the alleged release of genetically modified corn, exacerbated by an ambush interview with Prime Minister Helen Clark by broadcaster John Campbell.^[14]
• 2005 -
  • June: Graham Capill, former leader of the Christian Heritage Party is convicted on paedophilia-related charges and serves six years in prison. Christian Heritage disbands the following year in the wake of the scandal.^[15]
  • August: ACT Party MP Donna Awatere Huata is convicted on fraud charges involving a trust set up to help underprivileged Maori children.^[3]
  • November: Election funding controversy: during the 2005 New Zealand general election there were widespread allegations of overspending of political electioneering budgets against most major parties, as well as an anonymous hate campaign against the Labour and Green Party by a religious sect, the Exclusive Brethren.^[16]
• 2006 - The Hollow Men: A book, The Hollow Men, by investigative reporter Nicky Hager reports tactics allegedly used by the National Party in the previous year's elections, much of the information provided from leaked documents.^[17]
• 2007 - New Zealand Pacific Party MP Taito Philip Field is arrested on corruption and bribery charges. He eventually serves two years in prison.^[18]
• 2009 - Minister for Social Development and Employment Paula Bennett releases the benefit details of two beneficiaries who had criticised the Government's policy of getting rid of the Training Initiative Allowance (TIA), leading to complaints about breaches of privacy which end up being taken to the Human Rights Commission.^[19]
• Since late 2000s - Leaky homes crisis: changes to building regulations and practices in the 1990s result in a large number of newer houses being severely susceptible to leaks and mould. Government prevarication on financial recompense leads to major public outrage.^[20]

2010s

ACT Party leader John Banks was in the headlines for the wrong reasons in both 2011 and 2014.

• 2010 -
  • April: The Government sacks the 14 elected members of Environment Canterbury (Canterbury Regional Council), replacing them with seven appointed commissioners.^[21]
  • October: Supreme Court Justice Bill Wilson is forced to stand down after being accused of judicial misconduct.^[22]
• 2011 - Tea tape scandal: A meeting between Prime Minister John Key and ACT Party leader John Banks is recorded by a news journalist. The freedom of the press and the privacy of ostensibly public discussions (the meeting took place in a public area are widely debated in a case which involves both police and lawyers.^[23]
• 2013 - Major problems with payroll system Novopay, used primarily by the New Zealand Department of Education to pay teachers' salaries, causes many teachers to be underpaid, overpaid, or not paid at all for several months. Several other government departments are also affected. It is revealed that the system was approved by the government despite serious technical design flaws revealed during its testing period.^[24]
• 2014 -
  • June: ACT Party leader John Banks is convicted of filing a false electoral return in 2010, recording donations known to come from Kim Dotcom as anonymous. The conviction is overturned on appeal in 2015.^[25]
  • August: National Party cabinet minister Judith Collins is forced to resign her portfolios after being involved in a string of scandals. Early in the year she is accused of a conflict of interest after an overseas trip where she appeared to be promoting milk products produced by Oravida – a New Zealand company of which her husband is a director. Later in the year, claims emerge in Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics that Collins had passed on private information about public servants to right-wing attack-blogger Cameron Slater. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters also claims in the same month that Collins had approached him to do a post-2014 election deal with National with Collins as leader.^[26]
  • September: The National Party used a song by US rapper Eminem in a campaign ad during that year's election. The song's publishers filed a lawsuit against National for copyright violation stating they did not give consent for the song to be used in a political ad, a claim which National refutes.^[27]
• 2015 -
  • January: National Party MP Mike Sabin resigns from parliament "due to personal issues that were best dealt with outside Parliament"^[28] one month after it is revealed that he is under investigation by police for assault.^[29]
  • May: National cabinet minister Murray McCully is involved in the controversial setting up of a sheep farm in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Saudi businessman Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf, seemingly to negate the risk of Al-Khalaf suing the New Zealand government.^[30][31]
  • September: Conservative Party leader Colin Craig resigns as party leader amid allegations of sexual harassment of his former secretary. In the messy leadership dispute which follows, Craig is suspended by the party.^[32]
• 2016 -
  • September: Colin Craig (see above) cited in court during defamation case taken against him relating to sexual harassment allegations.^[33]

See also

• List of Australian political controversies

Notes

References

• Gavin McLean (November 2006). The Governors: New Zealand's Governors and Governors-General. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 1-877372-25-0.