Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins is now refusing to comment on the case of Charlotte Bellis, after ignoring ministerial advice not to share details about her.
Chris Hipkins Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
He would not say whether he would apologise to her for doing so; he would not admit he had done wrong; and he would not explain whether his office sought the details from the Foreign Affairs Minister's office or was offered it.
What he would say: he's happy to talk to Bellis directly, or to a representative with signed consent - just not in a public forum.
Bellis, a journalist working in the Middle East who had become pregnant and wanted to come home to New Zealand, was the centre of a political stoush early this year.
She had been rejected for an emergency allocation in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), and invited to apply under a different category.
Hipkins told media in a statement she had been given options, and he encouraged her to take up offers of assistance.
"I understand officials have also since invited her to apply for another emergency category. I encourage her to take these offers seriously," he said at the time.
"I also understand she was offered New Zealand consular assistance twice since she returned to Afghanistan in early December but has not responded. Again, I encourage her to take up any offers of assistance."
Bellis has repeatedly disputed that she was offered assistance, and that she never gave consent for that information to be shared - a potential breach of privacy in an individual case.
She was later granted a spot in MIQ, but Answers to Written Parliamentary Questions reveal the information was identified in briefings to Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta under the no-surprises policy.
Mahuta's answers show the briefing was shared with Hipkins' office - though it remains unclear which office initiated that - along with instructions not to share the details publicly.
"Information received by my Office, being the MFAT briefing note and media lines on consular issues related to Afghanistan, were passed to the Office of the Minister for Covid-19 Response.The media lines provided followed established practice in noting that 'for privacy reasons, we do not disclose details regarding individual cases'."
Hipkins' National Party counterpart Chris Bishop, who has frequently criticised the government's approach to MIQ, said Hipkins should apologise.
"He knew exactly what he was doing, his behaviour has been disgraceful ... Chris Hipkins needs to take some responsibility, take some accountability, front up and accept that he's done wrong, and apologise to Charlotte Bellis."
Chris Bishop Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
"The reason he made it public was to try and smear her and imply that essentially she was not taking up opportunities that the New Zelaand government had offered her ... he did that to attack her, he did that because he felt that he was under attack by her, but there's a massive inequality of resources here. This is Charlotte Bellis, one person, against the machinery and the might of the New Zealand government and a very senior minister with the whole press gallery to talk to and a media machine behind him."
ACT leader David Seymour said it was a disgrace.
"It's dirty politics all over again. the minister was given the information, he was told not to use it, he used it against a pregnant woman who was sheltering with the Taliban.
"This MIQ system was always evil, it reflects the Prime Minister's attitude of Covid above all else, and now we see that it has replaced even basic values ... such as not leaking a private citizen's information."
Bishop challenged Hipkins about it in Question Time this afternoon, but the minister's response was dismissive.
"I don't intend to make any further comment on that individual case. If a member acting on behalf of the person concerned wants to raise the matter with me - and they have a signed consent form in order to do so - then they are certainly able to do that and I'll certainly work with them on it," Hipkins said.
Bishop asked if he would apologise to Bellis, but Hipkins - appearing from isolation - would only refer him to his previous responses.
"And I think it is important that the House do continue to observe the tradition of not discussing individual cases," Hipkins said.
He later told reporters he regarded the matter as having been resolved at the time, and confirmed Mahuta's written answers were correct.
"What I will say around inddividual cases in general is that we've only generally released information where there's been a very good reason to do so - so a public interest in doing so or where we've been responding to concerns raised by individual people - but generally speaking we've been very cautious about releasing any personal or individual information."
He said he would be happy to talk to her by phone or email if she wanted that, but not in a public forum like twitter.
"And I don't intend to engage with an individual case over a public forum like that."
Bellis herself continued to dispute Hipkins' version of events.
And beyond that.. the information released was UNTRUE. I was not offered consular assistance and didn’t return to Afghanistan in December as Minister Hipkins stated. Furthermore, I have never turned down an MIQ spot. https://t.co/p5mP7XxvR9
— Charlotte Bellis (@CharlotteBellis) March 9, 2022
