July 24 () –
New Zealand Justice Minister Kiri Allan has resigned with immediate effect after she was arrested on Sunday after testing positive for breathalyzer after a fatal traffic accident.
Allan, 39, has highlighted in a statement that he is facing “a series of personal difficulties” and has added that he will take time to “consider” his “future in politics”. “I accept that my position as minister is untenable”, she has acknowledged.
Thus, she explained that she has tried to “juggle” with the “challenges” she faces “with the pressure of being a minister.” “My actions yesterday show that I was not right and I have let myself and my colleagues down,” she said.
Allan’s statement was published shortly after the Police confirmed that the former minister has been charged with “negligent use of a motor vehicle” and “refusing to accompany a Police officer”, in reference to an apparent resistance to arrest.
For his part, the New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, pointed out in a statement that Allan “was involved in a traffic accident” around 9:00 p.m. (local time) and “was taken into custody” at a police station in the capital, Wellington.
“She was released around 1:00 a.m. (local time). She has been charged with reckless driving and resisting arrest,” Hipkins said. “While her actions are inexcusable, it has been conveyed to me that she was in extreme emotional distress at the time of the incident,” she stressed.
In this sense, he stressed that Allan’s “personal struggles with mental health” “have been well documented” and added that he has spoken with her to inform her that “he does not consider that he is in a suitable state to hold a ministerial portfolio”.
“I also believe that it is unsustainable that a Minister of Justice is accused”, he has reviewed, before indicating that “Kiri agrees”. “She has told me that she wants to resign immediately from all her posts and she is going home to consider her future in politics. I have accepted her resignation,” she said.
“I recently gave Kiri the opportunity to address his mental health issues. After a while I thought he was fine and he assured me that he was. The incident last night is proof that there are not always quick fixes when it comes to mental health,” he argued.
Finally, Hipkins has stressed that “he does not give these details to minimize his actions, which are indefensible, but to provide context about the distressing circumstances in which he was at the time of the incident.”
The Prime Minister has pointed out shortly after that the head of the Police portfolio, Ginny Andersen, will be the new Minister of Justice and has argued that “aligning” both portfolios “will be important in the coming weeks” as the Government tries to advance legislation “so that juvenile delinquents face greater accountability for their crimes”.
On the other hand, Kieran McAnulty will be the new Minister of Regional Development, who adds to the Rural Communities portfolio, while David Parker will be released “at his own request” from the Budget portfolio – which passes into the hands of Barbara Edmonds, also Minister of the Interior – to “focus on Transport”, after the recent resignation of Michael Wood.
“From this moment and until the elections, our focus must be to improve the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. That is what I have tried to do and I need everyone to do the same,” Hipkins has settled in an appeal to his Executive.
