In a rare moment of bipartisan warmth, Simon Bridges reached across party lines today to compliment Labour leadership. But it was Labour leadership from more than a decade ago, during the Helen Clark era, that had the Opposition leader impressed.
"I think it has been a shambolic week for the (current) Prime Minister, and shown some weak leadership, actually," he said of Jacinda Ardern after ticking off a list of controversies that included the standing down of Cabinet ministers Clare Curran (August 24) and Meka Whaitiri within days of each other.
"If it was a Clark or a (John) Key, it's pretty simple: Get the minister in, look them in the eyes and ask them what happened," Mr Bridges told TVNZ1’s Breakfast of the controversy surrounding Ms Whaitiri.
"The Prime Minister should be strong and be able to deal with it quite quickly, the way Clark or Key would have."
Ms Whaitiri, the Minister of Customs, stood down from her ministerial portfolios on Thursday over what 1 NEWS understands is an allegation of assault on a staff member levelled against her.
Ms Whaitiri stepped down as Customs Minister over an alleged assault on a staff member. (Source: Other)
"A prime minister needs confidence in their minister," Mr Bridges said today. "If she can’t explain what happened frankly, candidly, that in itself is enough for the Prime Minister not to have confidence.
"I don’t think this is something that can just amble on for weeks because of some excuse of a review or what have you. It should be dealt with much more swiftly."
Mr Bridges acknowledged, after the issue was raised by Breakfast host Hayley Holt, that he doesn’t know for sure whether Ms Ardern sat Ms Whaitiri down and looked her in the eye the way he imaged previous prime ministers would.
It was reported Helen Clark said people would not have kept their jobs under her leadership during the Young Labour camp incident. (Source: Other)
Ms Clark drew attention to her differing leadership style from Ms Ardern’s last week in an interview with the Rotorua Daily Post. Referring to a controversy regarding four teens who said they were sexually harassed or assaulted during a Young Labour camp in February, Ms Clark said "people wouldn’t have kept their jobs".
An internal report investigating how party officials handled the allegations was completed last week.
SHARE ME