Michael Wood. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Calls for Michael Wood to be sacked from Cabinet are growing after more details emerged about decisions he made as Transport Minister while a shareholder in Auckland Airport.
He has already been stood down from that portfolio while he sells his shares and amends past declarations, but his decision last year to decline North Shore Airport's application for authority status has upped the pressure on the Prime Minister to act.
ACT leader David Seymour on Tuesday took the view of "no harm no foul" over Wood's handling of the disclosures.
"Where's the harm? He should have filled it out, he didn't, so what? New Zealand's got bigger problems."
On Wednesday though Seymour toughened his stance, calling for Wood to be sacked from all of his ministerial portfolios.
"It's clear that he not only failed to declare his interest but was making pretty significant decisions in his role as minister such as not allowing airport authority status for North Shore Airport.
"He owned shares in Auckland Airport. The development of another airport in the Auckland region over time is probably the biggest influence over Auckland Airport's long-term prosperity because it's a natural monopoly," Seymour said.
"Do I think that he was doing this thinking, 'Maybe my $13,000 of shares will appreciate and I'll retire a rich man?' No, I don't."
Auckland Airport. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
However, he said this situation was "totally untenable... banana republic stuff" because ministerial decisions had to be squeaky clean.
"This is about every person that has to go before a government decision-maker who assumes that that person is acting in the public interest and is impartial, not acting in their own private interests, and partial perhaps for or against them.
"And it's the message that it sends to every public official that, 'Hey, you could be a minister of the Crown and you get away with this stuff, because whatever'."
In a statement, Wood said the decision to decline North Shore Airport's application was made after "carefully considering the overwhelmingly negative feedback from the community and advice from officials".
"I have already acknowledged that this conflict was mismanaged, and a mistake that I take full responsibility for," he said.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he saw no need to take further action against Wood after today's revelations.
That includes confirmation from the PM himself during question time, that there were 12 separate occasions where the Cabinet Office talked to Wood about selling his Auckland Airport shares.
It was roughly double the figure he gave at a post-Cabinet briefing yesterday.
Speaking to reporters on the way into Parliament, Hipkins said he was satisfied with his original decision.
"Given his failure to manage his conflict of interest around his shares in Auckland International Airport, the appropriate thing to do was to stand him down as Minister of Transport and that is what I've done."
Hipkins had spoken to Wood about the North Shore airport decision and had been assured by him "that his personal shareholdings have not in any way influenced any of the decisions that he has taken as Minister of Transport".
"I've had an opportunity to review the letter that he wrote back to the North Shore aerodrome, which indicated there was still an avenue for them to pursue if they wish to proceed with their application, in the event that they do that, of course, it will be considered by a different minister."
Hipkins says he was "satisfied with his reassurance" and his own review of the letter sent to the airport, and "the fact that there was significant public opposition to the application for them to become a recognised airport that informed that decision".
He dismissed the need to hold an investigation, on the back of assurances given to him by Wood.
"I'd know him to be a conscientious, honest person. I think he's made a series of mistakes in not divesting his shares; he has admitted that mistake, there's clearly been a consequence for that".
Wood was still expressing regret today, for not getting rid of the shares when the conflict was first identified.
"I should have sold them, I regret that I didn't take that up as quickly as I should have. I'm not making an argument of that. That is what I'm putting right now," he said.
"This is something I lost sight of. I have a very large job, I work 80 to 90 hour weeks. Some of these things in my life administration I have let slip - I shouldn't have."
National MP Paul Goldsmith also had questions about an extension to government support for international airlines operating New Zealand's passenger and cargo networks in 2021 - a move warmly welcomed at the time by Auckland Airport.
Paul Goldsmith Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
"It's important for the integrity of our system that ministers declare conflicts of interest, and then manage them," Goldsmith said.
"And the point is that he failed to declare it, and he then failed to manage it, and as such, then that undermines the integrity of the system."
National also wants Wood stood down from his Cabinet positions "pending an independent, thorough review of all his actions".
"And personally, I can't see how that review can't come back and say that he's managed it so badly, he can't remain a minister."
