Cam Slater: It’s Death by a Thousand Cuts Now

As predicted, the Kiri Allan show is turning into a slow-moving train wreck with the drip feed of further allegations coming daily now. This time it is senior officials who outline the rantings and ravings of Kiri Allan in what can only be described as weapons-grade tantrums.

A senior public servant, with decades of experience, says Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan “yelled and screamed” so loudly, staff in the office heard the telephone call.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they witnessed Allan’s interactions with younger staff members both from government agencies and her Beehive office in a meeting, as well as seeing her “absolutely berate” another official for 20 mins on another occasion.

Allan “strongly refutes” the allegations.

Another former senior official with a long history of public service, has also spoken to Stuff to confirm they had concerns about Allan’s dealing with staff. “Basically low trust and respect of public servants was [the] issue,” they said.

And NEMA’s chief executive Dave Gawn, in a statement, said he “was aware of concerns regarding relationships in the minister’s office, and that he understood action was taken to address these concerns”.

That makes four senior public service staff who have spoken publicly about workplace relationships relating to Allan, who is minister for justice and regional development. She formerly held the emergency management portfolio.

Stuff

To be fair to Kiri Allan, if the incidents were after 11 am, then it is doubtful she’d remember them anyway. You just have to look at some of her performances in the house after having meetings in her office with Jim, Jack and Johnny.

None of this is a secret in Wellington but it appears they are going to try and brazen this out.

Mind you Chippy seems to be positioning Kiri Allan for a quick shove under the nearest available bus, if only Wellington buses could be relied upon:

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says claims of Kiri Allan treating staff poorly, including that she “yelled and screamed” at a senior official, are from “some time ago” and none constitute “formal complaints”.

Hipkins was once again confronted with questions about alleged issues in minister Kiri Allan’s office raised on Friday, as he ended a week-long trade trip in China.

Allan has strongly rejected the allegations, raised by Stuff reporting.

Hipkins said issues with Allan had not been “raised formally through the system, so there haven’t been formal complaints, they relate to some time ago”.

“I wasn’t the prime minister at that time,” he said.

Stuff

No, you weren’t, but you were Leader of the House. But he is now admitting that he knew about the incidents and has been pretty specific about when they were.

It also doesn’t matter who was Prime Minister at the time. He is the Prime Minister now and he is going to have to deal with this, especially when the inevitable happens and we find out that indeed there have been complaints, formal or otherwise, about Allan’s ministerial behaviour.

This is becoming death by a thousand cuts and reinforces the perception that Labour’s wheels are coming off.

This hit job has all the hallmarks of a Labour inside job, with staff and other MPs aghast at the treatment being meted out by someone in the party known as the bastion of workers’ rights.

Expect more to come.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. This article was first published HERE