Prime Minister John Key appears poised to move against former ACC Minister Nick Smith after suggesting this morning he had confidence in him "at the moment" but that could change this afternoon. When stopped by reporters, Key said he would not stand Smith down - but that could also change later today.© 2012 Fairfax NZ News
Smith has been embroiled in controversy over a letter he provided to Brownyn Pullar while he was still ACC minister which was used to advance her ACC claim. He yesterday acknowledged it was an error of judgment and apologised. Key said yesterday he had accepted Smith's apology but saw no reason for him to resign.
Key said the letter had not appeared to have influenced ACC because Pullar was still unhappy with the support she received.
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 in Parliament yesterday described the situation as "a shabby little case, involving blackmail, sex, a minister with a conflict of interest, and he should go now".
The comments prompted media questions about Smith's relationship with Pullar.
Smith initially said she was a friend and would not describe her as an intimate but later he 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."
Smith separated from his first wife in 2005 and remarried in 2009.
LABOUR DEMAND SMITH'S HEAD
Labour said Smith was not fit to lead the Government's local government reforms and must be sacked. Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little this morning said local government reform was one of the Government's key policies and was being lead by a minister who had shown he would put his personal interests above what was required of him professionally.
"I just don't think he is fit to be leading that level of reform."
Smith would be dealing with a lot of people in his new role as Local Government Minister.
"Are we going to see National Party people in local government favoured over other people in local government? When he acts in that sort of way, these are the questions that arise in the discharge of his ministerial duties. That is why he is unfit to be a minister." The letter revealed he was "way too compromised" and was capable of losing his judgment.
Although ministers often changed portfolios between Parliamentary terms, there were now questions about why Smith lost the ACC portfolio in the December post-election reshuffle.
"There may well now be questions about whether he was taken off that because he compromised himself and that was known. That is why there is still a lot of unanswered questions around the facts and the timeline leading up to this whole thing."
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has launched an inquiry into the privacy breach and ACC has contacted police over Pullar who it claims sought two-year's benefit in exchange for the return of emailed list - something denied by Pullar.
Labour is expected to put further pressure on Key in Parliament today to sack Smith.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6608670/Nick-Smiths-job-on-the-line
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