Prime Minister John Key is under pressure from the Opposition to sack Nick Smith from Cabinet, as questions are raised about Dr Smith's relationship with an ACC whistleblower.© 2012 Fairfax NZ News
Dr Smith yesterday apologised to Mr Key after admitting he wrote a reference for the woman, Bronwyn Pullar, for her to use in her medical assessment for a claim she had lodged with ACC. The letter, written in July last year when Dr Smith was ACC minister, was on his ministerial letterhead and addressed "to whom it may concern".
Mr Key said he had accepted Dr Smith's apology. But it was an error of judgment to send the letter on ministerial letterhead. In it, Dr Smith had made it clear she was a friend, Mr Key said.
"I think in writing a reference, even though we all have friends, as ministers of the Crown, that's an error of judgment in this particular case."
Ms Pullar is 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 is a former National activist and was supported by a friend, former National Party president Michelle Boag, when she met two senior ACC representatives in December to discuss her case. The leaked list of names was discussed then.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has launched an inquiry into the leak, and ACC has contacted police over Ms Pullar.
But Green MP Kevin Hague called for a separate probe by the auditor-general to look into Dr Smith's role, arguing it was now bigger than a privacy issue.
The roles of Ms Boag and Dr Smith sparked accusations of National cronyism during a snap debate in Parliament.
NZ First leader Winston Peters described it as "a shabby little case, involving blackmail, sex, a minister with a conflict of interest, and he should go now".
That prompted media questions about Dr Smith's relationship with Ms Pullar. Earlier in the day he said she was a friend, but he would not describe her as a family friend or an intimate. But he later refused to comment on his private life.
"I have an absolutely wonderful wife, I have four wonderful children ... I have been loyal to my wife during the entire period of our marriage and that I will be till the day I die. I love her and my family so much."
Dr Smith separated from his first wife in 2005 and remarried in 2009.
In the House in 2003, in an apparent reference to Ms Pullar, Labour MP Trevor Mallard referred to Dr Smith saying: "Well, here we have Bronwyn's mate, chipping away again ..."
Yesterday Labour ACC spokesman Andrew Little said Dr Smith had flagrantly breached his responsibilities and duties. "That minister must go from this cabinet."
But Mr Key said Dr Smith had made his potential conflict of interest clear. "If you are going to sack ministers for what I think he would accept as an error of judgment but not a terribly significant one, you'd be sacking a lot of ministers."
Dr Smith said Ms Pullar sent "dozens and dozens of emails" to him seeking his intervention. "I repeatedly said to her that the proper process for her to go through was the independent review process that ACC has."
She had then said ACC was claiming she was not employable or not in a fit state of health prior to the accident, and he had supplied the reference.
Mr Key said the letter seemed not to have had an influence, because she was still unhappy with her ACC support.
CHEQUERED CAREER
Nick Smith – a member of the so-called "brat pack" from the National government of the 1990s that also included Bill English, Tony Ryall and former MP Roger Sowry – has had a chequered history in Parliament:
In 2000 he used parliamentary privilege to accuse a Nelson lawyer of hounding a woman into bankruptcy over an unpaid bill. It later turned out that the woman, Debbie Mills, had a string of convictions including theft, shoplifting, two excess breath alcohol charges, two for driving carelessly and three for driving while disqualified.
In 2003 Dr Smith was dumped as National's deputy leader just weeks into the job, after being sent home on stress leave when colleagues reported him acting oddly. He had apparently been living on energy drinks after surviving on little sleep following a leadership coup.
In 2004, Dr Smith was found guilty of contempt of court after publicly intervening in a custody battle on behalf of a couple who later lost their appeal for custody of their 7-year-old son, whom the court described as having been seriously traumatised in early life.
It was was not the first time Dr Smith intervened in a Family Court dispute – he also publicised the case of a family who lost control over their children after leaving the Exclusive Brethren. He has also been embroiled in legal battles including a $15 million damages action related to statements he made about timber treatment. A defamation case against him was settled out of court.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6608670/Calls-for-Nick-Smiths-head-over-ACC
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