Justice Minister did a runner

Stuff reports:

Police dogs were used to track Labour MP Kiri Allan’s movements after she was found about 500 metres from her crashed car on Sunday evening, The Post understands.

So the Minister of Justice drove over the limit, hit a parked car, did a runner from the scene leaving her car abandoned. Incredible.

The following things can all be true, and are not contradictory:

• You can admire Kiri Allan greatly as a person, her friendliness, her sense of humour, her open style, her battle with cancer, her down to earth nature.
• You can have great empathy for her mental health issues, admire she is open about them, and understand how hard that can make life.
• You can also accept that there have been so many reports of bullying type behaviour (three different agencies raising concern, a backbench Labour MP, and VIP Transport) that how she deals with people is sub-optimal. This doesn’t negate the first two. I know several former National Ministers whose treatment of staff was also sub-optimal, but I also regard them as friends and good people. No-one is perfect.
• While having empathy for the mental health challenges, it is legitimate to point out that poor judgment in areas (speech at RNZ, not disclosing as a conflict a donation from an official who reports to her, treatment of others) probably contributes to the already high stress you are under. It can lead to a vicious circle where the more under pressure you are, the worse your judgment becomes.
• No amount of poor mental health excuses any MP, let alone the Minister of Justice, from fleeing the scene of a crash. This is an issue of huge public interest, and that doesn’t just stop with the resignation. Of course Parliament debated what happened. How could they not?

Gareth Hughes has written an excellent piece on the pressures of being an MP. The long hours, the late nights, the time away from family and the pressure from the media and the public. He also points out “One of the hardest things for me was that while politics is a team sport, often it’s your colleagues who you are in competition with”.

I worked in Parliament for eight years. I was only a staffer, but even at that level the job wasn’t great for mental (or physical) health due to the pressures of work. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the job and it was a privilege, but I am a much happier person now.

There is still a lot not known about the crash and the arrest. Again, despite the resignation, it is still a matter of legitimate interest about the circumstances around the then Minister of Justice being arrested. In my opinion it would be far better for Kiri Allan if a full statement was made about what happened. Otherwise, there will just continue to be story after story as details get drip-fed out.