Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins intends to speak to Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan in a couple of weeks about recent claims of past disunity with her staff.
He suggests the ongoing media interest is a sign of a higher bar for ministerial behaviour than in the past.
Allan has been under scrutiny after a series of concerns about her relationships with staff were raised in the media.
Department of Conservation Director-General Penny Nelson had said one staff member ended their secondment early and she had raised concerns with Ministerial Services, but no further problems arose and relationships improved.
In answer to an Official Information Act request, National Emergency Management Agency chief executive David Gawn also said he was aware of concerns regarding relationships in Allan's office, and further action was taken to resolve it.
Late last week, Stuff also reported an anonymous senior public servant as saying the minister had yelled and screamed at staff.
However, clear details about what happened or who was involved remain scant, and Allan has strenuously denied ever facing serious allegations from staff or ever shouting at staff. Speaking at a select committee last week, she accused National MPs of a "fishing exercise" and challenged them to put to her any concerns about her being able to perform her duties.
Allan was defiant over year-old claims about her relationships with staff, during select committee last week. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was on a trade trip to China during the week, but repeatedly stressed no formal complaints had been laid and "in every ministerial office, from time to time, there'll be periods of heightened tension" but he had not had a chance to speak with her directly and at length about the matter.
Speaking after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday, Hipkins said he had spoken to Allan briefly but still had yet to traverse the matter - he intended to do that after Parliament's recess.
"I've indicated to Kiri that we'll have a catch-up when I get back from Europe which will be in a couple of weeks time. I've suggested to her that she take a couple of weeks off and she's going to be doing that," Hipkins said.
Hipkins will travel to Europe on 7 July and return on 14 July.
"Kiri had a rough couple of weeks and I think it would be good for her to take some time off, she's indicated that she would like to take some time off, it's school holidays, and I think that would be a good thing.
"Generally speaking when any minister has been the subject of intense scrutiny, as Kiri has been in the past few weeks, I would encourage them to take a bit of a breath and that's what I'm doing here."
Allan was also on leave last week, due to her mental health - relating to a mix of personal circumstances and external pressures like the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle in her region - until she returned to Parliament on Thursday.
After Hipkins' comments on Monday however, she posted on social media to clarify her new leave was not because of her mental health.
"I'm not on 'mental health leave again'," she wrote, rejecting the characterisation from reporters.
The tweets Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan posted after Prime Minister Chris Hipkins' comments during the post-Cabinet media briefing on Monday. Photo: Twitter / Screenshot
"I'll take a couple of days off over school holidays because each parent has to as we don't have others that can take care of our kid. Please stop conflating my MH with external allegations."
Hipkins said Allan was an "exceptionally talented minister who has contributed an awful lot to our government", and in the first instance he planned to speak to her about it.
However, he twice refused to directly answer whether he still had confidence in Allan.
"Look, as I've said, we're going to catch up and have a good chat about where everything's at when I get back from Europe, which will be Friday next week," he said.
He said he took accusations about ministerial conduct very seriously, but did not see the need for an independent inquiry.
"I've been very clear with ministers in the time that I've been prime minister that my expectation is that all ministers will treat departmental officials [and] the staff working in their office with respect.
"The feedback that I've had from the senior levels of the public service is that the ... relevant chief executives are satisfied that any issues that were raised informally were resolved at the time.
"Where issues are raised informally and the people who have dealt with them have said that they feel they've been dealt with satisfactorily, I don't see the need for there to be a separate layer of inquiry on top of that."
He said some people were clearly raising concerns publicly that had not been raised within their organisations.
"It's difficult to form a judgement on that without knowing why," he said.
"I don't expect ministers to be absolutely perfect human beings, everybody will have a bad day from time to time - particularly when they're under pressure. The question is what do you then do about that."
He suggested it was a sign of the changing culture at Parliament, in part following the Debbie Francis review.
"I think what it does point to is that there has been a change of culture around this place in the last couple of years which in my mind is a good thing.
"As a former opposition member I can tell you that allegations of this nature flew around the place all of the time in the whole nine years I was in opposition and none of them ever made it into the public domain - I'm talking about of ministers in the previous government. I think it's good there is more openness and willingness to talk about that.
"Parliament as a workplace did need to change, and the fact the threshold is now higher is a good thing."