Kerre Woodham: Stuart Nash – indiscreet and hopeless

Dear oh dear oh dear oh dear. You do have to wonder whether Stuart Nash is employable in this country. He might have to head over to Oz and join forces with Tory Whanau – they can set up their own consultancy on what not to do if you want a job in the public eye. For those who don't know, and I can't imagine there's anyone in the country who doesn't, but let's recap: Stuart Nash has resigned as a New Zealand First candidate after yet another ill-advised reckon came back to bite him in the bum. In a late-night social media post – and therein lies the problem, I think. There is no good that comes from being out late after midnight. There is no good that comes from social media posts after 5pm. But in this case, he said the backlash over his comments had become a significant distraction, so he was resigning as the candidate for New Zealand First. 

He had accused National's Napier MP, Katie Nimon, of being lazy. She had taken maternity leave. He was responding to Chris Finlayson's positive comments about Nimon in Finlayson's podcast. In a late-night social media text, Nash sent the text to Finlayson and it read: “Katie took nine months off on full pay, went back for a week, then took another month off. Laziest MP I've ever come across. Nice woman, ill-suited to the rigours of being an electorate MP." In fact, Nimon had 10 weeks of parental leave and was back at work as an electorate MP. She spent six months away from Wellington but working from her electorate office. If Nash's comment was a one-off, it could perhaps, with generous interpretation, be explained away. 

But Nash has form. In mid-March 2023, Nash resigned as Minister of Police following revelations he asked the then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to appeal a decision Nash felt was too light. You can't do that as a Minister – you have to remain neutral. Later in March, he made remarks on Newstalk ZB calling for a murder suspect to be imprisoned. At the time, the murder suspect was facing trial, hadn't yet been convicted. This is basic law 101 He has a law degree. He was Minister of Police. This is stuff he should know, and it just hands the opposition ammunition. Then, third strike and you're out, he contacted the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to advocate for a migrant health professional. So, ministerial interference. You can't do that.  

In response, Hipkins demoted Nash to the bottom of the cabinet rankings as a final warning, but declined to strip him of his remaining cabinet portfolios until it was revealed that Nash had emailed two of his donors, who were commercial property owners, about a commercial rent relief policy that cabinet was discussing, which is in direct contravention of the cabinet manual, which says you can't talk about things that are discussed around the cabinet table. It is basic stuff if you want to do the job. Basic, basic stuff. Chris Hipkins said, “Right, Nash has got to be stripped of his ministerial portfolios." He'd given him enough rope, he'd subsequently hung himself.  

He decided not to stand for Labour, or Labour decided not to have him, which gave him free rein to express whatever he wanted to say. And off he went onto an internet radio station, The Platform, and when asked for the definition of a woman, said it's a “person with a p***y and a pair of t***s”. He was working for a recruitment company, a serious recruitment company involving serious professionals. There might be some workplaces where that kind of thing is perfectly acceptable, but not at Robert Walters. He was shown the door forthwith, and he also resigned from the board of the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.  

This is not an "oh my goodness, how on earth did that happen?" You know that he's a loose cannon. You know that he says oiky, oafish comments that are then ammunition for opposition parties. And it's his indiscretion. Why would you send a text like that to a former National MP who's a very sort of moderate, sensible person who is quite likely to take offence? If he thinks Katie Nimon is the bee's knees, he's going to be rightfully annoyed when Stuart Nash sends him a text like that in the middle of the night. What surprises me is that New Zealand First took him on in the first place. They knew he was an indiscreet oik – he was exactly what was written on the can. You got what you expected, surely. But it's his lack of judgement and his indiscretion that makes him really ill-suited to standing for any kind of public office. He can't just do a Michael Laws and go from Parliament to regional councils to Parliament. No. Indiscreet, hopeless. 

Heather had a hot take on it, saying that if you are an electorate MP, you have to get back to work. You shouldn't be mucking around taking as much maternity, parental leave as you're legally entitled to. If you've been elected and your name is on the door, you shoul

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Morning's podcast from News Talks,
he'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, you
do have to wonder whether Stuart Nash is employable in
this country. Might have to head over to wah Was
and join forces with Torrifano. They can set up their
own consultancy on what not to do if you want
a job in the public eye. For those who don't know,

(00:34):
and I can't imagine that anyone in the country who doesn't.
But let's recap Stuart Nash has resigned as a New
Zealand First cabin A candidate after yet another ill advised
reckon came back to bite him in the bum in
a late night social media post. And therein lies the problem.
I think there is no good that comes from being

(00:57):
out late after midnight. There is no good that comes
from social media posts after five pm. But in this case,
he he said, the backlash over his comments had become
a significant distraction, so he was resigning as the candidate
for New Zealand First. He had accused National's napier MP
Katie Nimman of being lazy. She had taken maternity leave.

(01:24):
He was responding to Chris Finlasson's positive comments about Nimmen
and Finlassen's podcast, so in a late night social media text,
Nash sent the text of in Listen and it read
Katie took nine months off on full pay, went back
for a week, then took another month off. Laziest MP

(01:47):
I've ever come across. Nice woman, ill suited to the
rigors of being an electorate MP. In fact, Niman had
ten weeks of parental leave and was back at work
as an electorate MP. She spent six months away from
Wellington but working from her electorate office. If Nash's comment

(02:07):
was a one off, it could, perhaps with generous interpretation,
be explained away, but Nash has form. In mid March
twenty twenty three, Nash resigned as Minister of Police following
revelations he asked the Police Commissioner, the then Police Commissioner
Andrew Costa, to appeal a decision nashvelt was too light.

(02:28):
You can't do that as a minister. You have to
remain neutral. Later in March, he made remarks on news
Talk said B calling for a murder suspect to be imprisoned.
At the time the murder suspect was facing trial, hadn't
yet been convicted. This is basic law one oh one.

(02:52):
He has a law degree, he was Minister of Police.
This is stuff he should know, and it just hands
the opposition ammunition. Then third striking, you're out. He contacted
the Minister of Business, Innovation Employment to advocate for a
migrant health professional. So in ministerial interference, you can't do that.

(03:15):
So in response, Hipkins demoted Nash to the bottom of
the cabinet rankings as a final warning, but declined to
strip him of his remaining cabinet portfolios until it was
revealed that Nash had email two of his donors, who
were commercial property owners, about a commercial rent relief policy
that cabinet was discussing, which is a direct contravention of

(03:37):
the Cabinet Manual, which says you can't talk about things
that are discussed around the cabinet table. It is basic stuff.
If you want to do the job, basic basic stuff.
Chris Hipkins said, right, Nash has got to be stripped
of his ministerial portfolios. He'd given him enough rope he'd

(03:59):
subsequently hung himself. So he decided not to stand for
labor or labor decided not to have him, which gave
him free rein to express whatever he wanted to say,
and off he went onto an internet radio station the platform,
and when asked for the definition of a woman, said

(04:19):
it's a person with a possanapertits. He was working for
a recruitment company, a serious recruitment company involving serious professionals,
and there might be some workplaces where that kind of
thing is perfectly acceptable. Not at Robert Walters. He was

(04:40):
shown the door forthwith and he also resigned from the
board of the New Zealand Taxpayers Union.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
So you know.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
This is not a oh my goodness, how on earth
did that happen. You know that he's a loose cannon.
You know that he says oikey oafish comments that are
then ammunition for opposition parties, and it's his indiscretion. Why

(05:09):
would you send a text like that to a former
national MP who's a very sort of moderate, sensible person
who is quite likely to take events. If he thinks
Katie Nimman is the bee's knees, He's going to be
rightfully annoyed when Stuart Nash sends him a text like

(05:31):
that in the middle of the night. What surprises me
is that New Zealand first took him on in the
first place. They knew he was an indiscreet week he
was exactly what was written on the can. You got
what you expected, surely, But it's his lack of judgment

(05:54):
and his indiscretion that makes him really ill suited to
standing for any kind of public office. He can't just
do a Michael Laws and go from Parliament to regional
councils to Parliament. You know, you know, indiscreet, hopeless. Heather

(06:17):
had a hot take on it, saying that if you
are an elector at MP, you have to get back
to work. You shouldn't be mucking around taking them, you know,
as much maternity parental leave as you're legally entitled to.
If you have been elected and your name is on
the door, you should be back at work straight away.

(06:37):
I disagree with her respectfully. You know, being a politician
is hard work. It is a lot of travel, it's
a lot of slogging around. It's not the same as
being a radio host. I think if you know the
parental leave exists, every employer, every voter knows that there

(07:00):
is the possibility that if you employ or elect a
young person of child bearing age, and that includes a
man up until about oh god, mack Jack is still
tuning them out as he up until about eighty there
is a possibility they can take parental leave, male or female.

(07:21):
I think it's a really, really hard work and she
was right to take the time off that she did.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
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