National party
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has run roughshod over the rules governing ministers by penning a secret transport letter to Phil Twyford.
The Cabinet Manual is very clear. At 8.25, it notes: ‘Ministers should always be clear about the capacity in which they are creating or using information’.
Julie Anne Genter’s secret Let’s Get Wellington Moving letter to the Transport Minister was anything but clear.
It was written on Ministerial letterhead and signed by her as Associate Transport Minister, yet when the heat came on she claimed to be merely communicating as the Green Party transport spokesperson.
She has answered oral and written questions in parliament about this issue in her capacity as Associate Minister, but won’t answer questions from the media or release her secret letter.
Phil Twyford has made things worse by telling media “she was writing as the Associate Minister but expressing a view on behalf of the Green Party so it’s not all that easy to separate those things out”.
Twyford has inadvertently hit the nail on the head – Genter has confused matters horribly for all concerned and she is thumbing her nose at one of our important constitutional documents.
The prime minister has already been embarrassed by Clare Curran’s rule-breaking. She now needs to bring Julie Anne Genter into line, to ensure her government is operating to the high standards expected of it by the public.