Will Kris Faafoi be sacked for allegedly doing favours for a friend who threw him under the bus the minute things didn’t go his way? It certainly looks as though he has breached the Cabinet Manual rules which prohibit doing personal favours for friends or family or anyone else for that matter.
Unlike many other controversies around donations and shortfalls in ethical standards, this one is easy for the public to comprehend. The Minister clearly states he’s going to contact officials to help “speed things up”, and tells Kerrison to “send me surname and immagration nz file number” of the family member seeking residency.
Faafoi’s correspondence in text and Facebook messages to Kerrison is very explicit. He says clearly “Bro I have a plan – but it can’t be plastered over FB”
[…] The correspondence suggests Faafoi knows he’s in dodgy territory, saying “I’ve enlisted the help of an MP up your way. If I deal with it directly, I will have a conflict of interest.”
Audrey Young at the NZ Herald has stated that what Faafoi has done is a sackable offence but that if he was lying to his friend and not actually doing anything that his lie could potentially save his job.
Duncan Garner has also suggested that the fact that the friend didn’t get the help he had asked for means that Faafoi should not be sacked. Garner who is a personal friend of Faafoi also said “Labour’s Kris Faafoi has been the Government’s best performing Minister by a country mile. He’s decisive, a good communicator, doesn’t promise the world and has a sense of humour… I hope he stays in Cabinet – his party needs him and so does this country.”
Willie Jackson has also come out in Faafoi’s corner saying that it is a situation that can be worked through because he didn’t actually do anything for the friend and “he’s a good man, he’s not just a good minister. He’s a great community man”
[…] National’s Paul Goldsmith said that Faafoi’s actions wouldn’t be acceptable in a National government: “If it was me under a National Prime Minister, I’d be toast. You’d be spreading your peanut butter on me right now.” He argued that, in contrast, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern “never disciplines anybody”, and pointed to various scandals involving Shane Jones.
National leader Simon Bridges has put some heat on in media interviews but has failed to call for Faafoi’s resignation.
Talking to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB, Bridges went further, “accusing the Government of showing favouritism to celebrities” […] He said: “Whether it’s Derek Handley, Carol Hirschfeld, Richie Hardcore or Jason Kerrison, it does start to look like, under this Government if you’re a celebrity you get influence that others don’t.”
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I think that the writing is on the wall and that Ardern will give Faafoi a slap over the wrist with a wet bus ticket after telling media that she gave him a stern talking to and that will be that. He is, after all, one of the few competent ministers in her government.
UPDATE: Nek Minute…
