If Michael Wood is to be sacked for anything it should be for his stupidity, not his rule-breaking. It has now been revealed that the minister was asked to divest his shares at least 12 times, not the half a dozen times previously claimed.
Michael Wood was approached 12 times by the Cabinet Office over his Auckland Airport shares, seeking to confirm he had divested or was in the process of divesting his shares.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was questioned about the suspended transport minister’s shares in the House on Wednesday by deputy National leader Nicola Willis.
Hipkins listed the 12 dates, ranging from December 19, 2020 to March 27, 2023, when the Cabinet Office “sought to confirm whether he had divested the shareholding”.
“Throughout the process Michael Wood confirmed he was about to, or was in the process of divesting the shareholdings,” Hipkins said.
Stuff
But he didn’t. After being asked 12 times, and lying each and every time about his plans for the shares he did nothing. He was never going to sell those shares, even if he was asked to.
But have a care, it is an extremely arduous process to sell shares:
- Log on to your online share-trading platform or bank
- Enter username and password
- Select shares ticker you wish to sell
- Enter the number of shares you wish to sell or tick the “all” box
- Enter the price you wish to sell at or tick “at market”
- If the latter, accept the price offered
- Click on the ‘Sell” button
- Logout
Total time involved to complete all the above steps: approximately 8 years.
He was asked at least six times before 2022. I wonder what Jacinda Ardern has to say about this, or was this a nice little landmine she left for Chippy to step on?
We also know that he made at least one decision while Minister of Transport: to stymie a competitor of Auckland Airport – while he had ownership of those shares and a clear conflict of interest.
And he can no longer claim he didn’t know. He has been asked about the shares at least a dozen times.
But the minister is a VERY busy man, so many things announced and not done. No time to call up a broker!!!
David Farrar has provided some context around two share scandals, one claimed by Labour to be so bad that the PM needed sacking, the other defended by Labour as a bit of a misstep:
This revelation changes things from a potential conflict of interest to actually having made a Ministerial decision where he had a financial interest in the outcome.
Now again I would say I don’t think that was his motivation. $13,000 of shares to someone on $250,000 a year is not a lot of money. But when John Key had some shares in Tranzrail, Labour insisted he was acting corruptly and was motivated by his shareholding, even though they represented a minuscule amount of his holdings.
It is worth comparing the two situations of Key in 2003 and Wood in 2023, so I have done a table.
| MP | Key | Wood |
| Company | Tranzrail | Auckland Airport |
| Shares value | $100,000 approx | $13,000 |
| Est % of wealth | 0.2% | 2%+ |
| Owned by | Family trust not managed by Key | Wood directly |
| Breached standing orders | No | Yes |
| Breached Cabinet Manual | No | Yes |
| Alleged conflicted action | Asked questions in Parliament | Declined authority status to a competitor |
| Role | Associate Opposition Transport spokesperson | Minister of Transport |
| Sales of shares | Done within 12 months of being an MP for a loss of over $100,000 | Not done despite six-twelve reminders from Cabinet office over 2.5 years |
Now with the Key situation, Labour insisted this was an egregious breach of standards. By their own rhetoric, what Wood does is clearly much worse.
Kiwiblog
He should now be sacked; if not for breaking the rules, then for being a complete idiot.
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