Former ACC Minister Nick Smith has resigned his ministerial portfolios. He has just announced his resignation in the House of Parliament after spending his flight to Wellington this afternoon writing the letter.© 2012 Fairfax New Zealand Limited
Smith was seen by a Fairfax reporter writing the note on, ironically, ACC branded note paper.
The former Local Government Minister and MP for Nelson has been embroiled in controversy over a letter he provided to friend Bronwyn Pullar while he was still ACC minister which was used to advance her ACC claim.
"I have tended my resignation," he told Parliament. "I do so because I made not one error of judgment but two in dealing with a conflict of interest in respect of a friend."
Smith said the first error he made was in July last year when he provided a letter of support for Pullar. He said the letter made plain that he did not mean to interfere with ACC in deciding that claim.
Smith said he had asked ACC to go through all of his correspondence as the minister. He said he did not in interfere in anyway with the way ACC handled that claim. He said his behaviour was not up to the standard expected of a minister.
A heavily emotional Smith apologised to Prime Minister John Key, the house and his constituents.
It follows Key earlier today refusing to express confidence in Smith beyond this afternoon. Key dodged reporters questions on his way into parliament this afternoon, says he will speak to reporters after Smith's announcement.
Smith cancelled events in his electorate and made a last minute change in his flight plans. Arriving about 1.30pm in Wellington, Smith refused to comment on why he'd changed his plans.
Smith yesterday admitted the letter was a mistake and apologised. This morning Smith told the Nelson Mail he had no thoughts of resigning.
At that time, Key told reporters he would not stand Smith down but said that could change later today.
"I'm not in a position where I want to make any comments about Nick Smith at the moment," he told reporters at Wellington's Wellesley College after opening a new library.
"I may be in a position to say a bit more this afternoon."
Pullar was at the centre of a massive privacy breach by ACC, which emailed her names and details of 6752 claimants, including sensitive sexual-abuse cases.
She was a former National Party activist and was supported by a friend and former party president Michelle Boag when she met senior ACC representatives in December to discuss her case and the emailed list.
NZ First leader Winston Peters yesterday told Parliament it was "a shabby little case, involving blackmail, sex, [and] a minister with a conflict of interest". However, Smith today rejected Peters' claim.
"What I have openly done is acknowledged that Bronwyn Pullar was a friend, that I knew her because she was a volunteer of the National Party in Auckland and I knew her from her work as a marketer in the fruit exporting business."
It was a matter of public record that his first marriage broke up while National was in opposition, he said.
"I formed a new relationship in the last five years. I have been absolutely loyal to my wife, Linley. I am very committed to my four children and will be for the rest of my life."
Smith said he wouldn't comment on his private life between his marriages and said he hadn't seen Pullar for four years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6608670/Minister-Nick-Smith-resigns
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