Simon Bridges is calling for Health Minister David Clark to be ousted from Cabinet after his latest lockdown controversy.
But Mr Clark denies any wrongdoing, saying the sale and purchase settlement happened a month before lockdown and before there was a single known case of coronavirus in New Zealand.
Dr Clark was seen moving boxes between his new house and old home in Dunedin during the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown. However, the two properties are believed to only be a few hundred metres apart and Dr Clark said he had moved houses before the lockdown began.
The Prime Minister has also agreed that Dr Clark didn’t break the rules this time round.
A spokesperson for Jacinda Ardern said based on what the Health Minister had advised her he moved house prior to lockdown, “and based on his description of events, had not breached the rules of lockdown“.
David Clark defended his household move again today saying the sale and purchase agreement happened one month before lockdown.
“It was something that was needed for the sake of my household,” he told 1 NEWS today.
He said he used the existing house as an office as he moved between what was an “office setup a couple of hundred metres down the road from my new house”.
“The moving company was already booked before any changes at alert levels,” he said, adding the settlement was signed before there was “a single case of Covid in New Zealand.”
But Opposition Leader Mr Bridges says the Health Minister’s behaviour is not good enough. Dr Clark has breached lockdown rules twice already.
“This guy is the Minister of Health in the biggest health crisis we’ve ever seen. [He] should have been in Wellington doing his job - that’s where his focus should have been,” says Mr Bridges.
But the PM has said David Clark didn’t break Level 4 restrictions when moving boxes between his old and new home. (Source: Other)
“We know the PM doesn’t have any confidence in him already and I just make this point: This is his third strike now in lockdown. He should be out.”
Dr Clark could have been let go from his role after the first two breaches which saw him doing activities no New Zealander was permitted to do under Level 4. On one occasion he went mountain biking on a trail, on another he drove 20 kilometres to go for a beach walk with his family.
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