Nick Smith quits as minister over 'two errors'

A report from One News

Government Minister Nick Smith has quit the Government over two conflicts of interest in letters he wrote regarding a friend's ACC claim. He became emotional in the House as he announced his resignation as minister for Climate Change, Environment and Local Government.
"I do so because I made not one error of judgement, but two in dealing with a conflict of interest in respect of a friend who had made repeated attempts to me during my period as Minister of ACC to advocate and interfere in her case,"  he said.
Smith said the Prime Minister "has quite properly accepted my resignation".
His first error was in July last year when the friend, former National Party official Bronwyn Pullar, said there were concerns about her status prior to a cycling accident she had in 2002.  He then wrote a letter "providing knowledge of her in that pre-accident period". Smith said he made plain he was writing in the capacity of a friend and he did not intend to interfere in ACC decisions.  "It was an error in judgement" to have written the letter and to have done so on ministerial letterhead, Smith said.
The second mistake was to not declare a conflict of interest in his involvement with another request from Pullar in 2010, he told the House. Then Associate Minister for ACC Pansy Wong had received a request from Pullar via an MP in March that year. Wong declined as she knew Pullar and declared a conflict of interest. ACC then prepared a formal response which Smith signed off, but he failed to declare his own conflict of interest, he said.
He apologised to his friends and family for the mistake.
Arriving in Wellington just before 2pm, Smith faced questions from waiting media but refused to answer and asked to be treated with "a little humanity".
PM John Key said in a statement: "Dr Smith has been a hard-working and diligent Minister, but perceptions do matter and he knows he has let himself down.
"I am very disappointed to have lost such a capable Minister. Dr Smith has made a huge contribution to the National Party and to this Government."
Gerry Brownlee will stand in as Local Government Minister, Craig Foss for Climate Change Issues and Chris Finlayson for Environment.
Labour deputy leader Grant Robertson said after Smith's resignation that it was clear Smith was a "close associate" of Pullar and that ministerial standards had reached a "new low".

'At the moment'
Asked about the matter earlier this morning, Key said he had confidence in Smith "at the moment", but said that could change this afternoon. Under repeated questioning as to the nature of the relationship between Smith and Pullar, Key said he was not prepared to comment, and said Smith is "only human". A spokesman for Smith said he was friends with Pullar.
Labour's ACC Spokesman Andrew Little earlier said Smith knew what he was doing and he should not be allowed to continue in his current role . "It was an artful letter from a minister that knew exactly what he was doing," he told TV ONE's Breakfast. "He was trying to use his ministerial influence to get a decision in favour of someone who was a friend of his - you just don't do that as a minister and he knows that."
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters used Parliamentary privilege yesterday to claim it was "a shabby case involving blackmail, sex, a minister with a conflict of interest".
Responding to the claim Smith became emotional when telling media he was happy to answer questions about his public life, but not his personal life, he said he has a wonderful wife who he has been loyal to during the entire period of his marriage, and will be loyal to until the day he dies. The couple married in 2009.
Pullar was also inadvertently emailed the names and details of thousands of ACC clients, including about 250 sensitive sexual abuse cases. ACC has laid a complaint over Pullar, who it has accused of threatening to go public about being sent the confidential information unless ACC promised to pay her a benefit for two years.

© 2012 TVNZ Ltd

http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/nick-smith-quits-minister-over-two-errors-4788009

Speech at the release of Ministry of Women's Affairs' sexual violence research project

A speech by Pansy Wong from the National Party

Good evening everyone, it is a pleasure to be here as we gather to acknowledge the release of this significant research project.
First of all, I would like to thank the Ministry of Women's Affairs who led the two-year project, ‘Strong and Safe Communities - Effective Interventions for Adult Victim/Survivors of Sexual Violence', and to your project partners, the Ministry of Justice and the New Zealand Police.
Thank you also to the researchers from the Crime and Justice Research Centre at Victoria University for your skill, dedication, and absolute professionalism.
Above all, we must express our deep gratitude to the survivors who participated in the research. Without their strength and courage we would not be here tonight.
Thank you to all of you who had involvement in this research. The result is an outstanding example of a collaborative effort across many sectors.
This research is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of community agencies, researchers, service providers, and government agencies.
It is the first comprehensive piece of research to be conducted on adult sexual violation in New Zealand in the past three decades and it reaffirms our nation's international reputation of being a fair, caring and innovative country.
Through face-to-face interviews with survivors and surveys completed by them, we have gained a real insight into how the system caters to people who have been through the harrowing ordeal of a violent sexual attack.
Professionals like yourselves and decision makers like myself have long understood that many of the thoughts and perceptions surrounding sexual violence are myths.
For example, there is a common misconception that most attacks are committed by strangers.
Now, for the first time, this comprehensive two-year research project is able to dispel such myths with authority and provide us with a platform to change attitudes.
In fact, the research revealed that sexual violence cases involving a stranger have the highest success rate for prosecution, and that the victims of such incidents are more likely to report them to police.
The majority of sexual attacks involve someone the victim knows. The first hurdle is to convince these victims to report the crime and then comes the hurdle for them to jump over the justice bar.
The Minister of Justice has introduced a raft of legislative changes to lower the hurdles in the justice system for the victims of sexual violence, such as the removal of provocation as defence and launching a Law Commission review to consider alternative justice procedures for the victims of sexual violence.
This review includes looking at changing our approach from being an adversarial system to an inquisitorial system, which would see the judge becoming involved in collecting and determining the facts of the case.
Sexual violation is the most costly crime in New Zealand, with the social cost estimated to be at about $1.2 billion per year, but it is also the most significantly under-reported crimes.
The research has highlighted many reasons for this under-reporting, including shame, self-blame and the fear of not being believed.
This shows that one of the most useful tools we can have as a nation is to have the people around victims understand the importance of giving support and showing trust.
Unfortunately the research tells us this is not always the case, with some survivors saying their disclosures were met with disbelief, blame, and ostracism for bringing shame on the family.
Hence, it is important for us to work towards providing an environment that nurtures and caters for victims to come forward to report these dreadful crimes.
Often, a victim's first cry for help is through medical, mental health and social services - with them often seeking help for related issues such as drink or drug addiction, gambling or other problems that have arisen from their ordeal.
This is expected since specialist services for the victims of sexual violence are still in their development stages. Therefore it is important these frontline services are equipped to detect signs of sexual violence and refer the victims to other agencies to receive the specialised help they need.
Tomorrow, Hon Power will be releasing the Sexual Violence Taskforce report. The Government's responses to this report will be forthcoming.
Your good work has helped us to debunk the myths surrounding sexual violence and has armed us with facts and evidence to change society's attitude towards sexual violence.
This research has provided a good base from which we can look at the services available and determine how we can help victims and how the justice system can better cater to their needs.
This Government is committed to utilising this significant piece of research to reduce the impact sexual violence has on the victims - with one interviewee describing the feeling as having her soul stolen.
As Minister of Women's Affairs, I will do my best to restore the many souls that have been stolen through sexual violence.

http://beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech+release+ministry+women039s+affairs039+sexual+violence+research+project