Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Michael Wood has finally sold the Auckland Airport shares that landed him in political hot water.
Fresh details on the controversy just keep on coming, with confirmation on Thursday the matter had been raised directly by the Cabinet Office with the office of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her chief of staff on more than one occasion.
Speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, Kelvin Davis told Parliament there had been further no contact from the Cabinet Office about the issue since Chris Hipkins took over.
"The previous Prime Minister was informed that the Honourable Michael Wood was in the process of divesting shares in Auckland Airport and Contact Energy… in November 2021, and November 2022. She was also informed he had divested his shares in March 2021 - this was incorrect advice," Davis said.
"In February 2022, the then Chief of Staff was informed by the Cabinet Office that they had provided advice to Michael Wood about divesting and that the minister had advised he was in the process of divesting the shares."
Wood continued to face questions about the $13,000 worth of shares at Parliament on Thursday, which he said have now been sold and the proceeds donated to charity.
Asked about the response his office sent to Newsroom about pecuniary interests in 2021, he said, as already acknowledged, "I was not focused on the information that was coming into my office."
"Sometimes the information was not coming directly to me, it was coming into my office, I've acknowledged my error here and there will be an investigation into this, and Sir Maarten Wevers has given me his best guidance, that I should refrain from getting into too much detail on this and public commentary and cooperate fully with his inquiry, which I will do."
Wood was under formal investigation by Registrar of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests of Members of Parliament, Sir Maarten Wevers, to determine whether he had broken Parliament's rules around disclosing assets and other financial interests, after a request from National MP Chris Penk into "whether Hon Michael Wood has complied with his obligations to declare certain interests under Parliament's Standing Orders".
Wood described the inquiry as "appropriate" and a "useful exercise to go through at the moment".
"I'm keen that arising out of this there's absolute clarity and transparency, and I hope that the inquiry can achieve that," he told reporters.
Hipkins said he wanted Wood to "work through resolving these issues, and I'm confident he'll do that".
He was asked whether these fresh allegations gave him any pause about his ministerial future.
"I'm going to wait and see, in terms of the conversations he's having with the Registrar of Pecuniary Interests at the moment before I make a further judgement on that.
"I think that's actually important because that process needs to happen completely independently."
Wevers "noted that Hon Michael Wood had, in recent days, made a number of public statements, including in the House of Representatives, in relation to the need to amend previous returns under the Register".
When looking at whether an inquiry was needed, he also "took account of the degree of importance of the matter under inquiry; whether the matter may involve a breach of the obligations to make a return; and whether the matter is technical or trivial".
Wevers concluded "an inquiry is warranted and will be undertaken in accordance with clauses 16 and 17 in Appendix B of the Standing Orders. Clause 17(3) establishes that the proceedings connected to the Registrar's inquiry are strictly confidential".
There are also fresh calls for Wood to be sacked from Cabinet altogether.
Wood was earlier this week stood down temporarily as Transport Minister while he sold the shares and amended past declarations.
The revelation "Michael Wood emailed a false answer to media about his pecuniary interests...means the Prime Minister must sack him", National MP Paul Goldsmith said.
"He knew he owned the shares, and he knew they represented a conflict of interest. His answer rested on the fig leaf that he thought because the shares were held in a trust they didn't have to be declared."
The list of Wood's mistakes "continues to grow", Goldsmith said.
"First, not selling the shares when he became Minister of Transport; second, not declaring them publicly for more than a year; third, while still holding the shares not recusing himself from conflicted decisions as Minister; fourth, not doing what he told the Cabinet Office he would do 12 times; and now fifth, providing answers to the media that were demonstrably false.
"If the prime minister has any standards, he will dismiss Mr Wood from all his portfolios today."