National Party leader Christopher Luxon says Chris Hipkins has been "soft and weak" over his handling of the Michael Wood shares scandal.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced Wood had been stood down from his role as Transport Minister this afternoon, following the revelation Wood had failed to immediately declare $13,000 worth of shares in Auckland Airport.
It's something National says is a conflict of interest for the Minister of Transport and Minister for Auckland, and a breach of Wood's obligations under the Cabinet Manual, which dictates rules for Ministers, including managing conflicts of interest and transparency.
Asked about Hipkins' decision this afternoon, Luxon said Hipkins had been "soft and weak" over the scandal and only acted because it had become a "media issue".
"We want a leader and a prime minister [who's] going to do the right thing not wait until the media to actually make him do the right thing.
It's another ministerial drama for Labour, political editor Jessica Mutch McKay reports. (Source: 1News)
"We've gone through Stuart Nash, he got three goes, we've gone through Kiri Allan and Meng Foon, we've gone through Jan Tinetti and the Electoral Commission, as well as her other issues, and now we're dealing with Michael Wood."
He said it showed Hipkins was "not a good leader" at making the Labour caucus focused.
"I would have stood him down last Friday when I first found out about the issue. [Hipkins] has had four days and it's only because you've made it an issue now in a media sense, that he's now responding. That's not leadership."
Luxon said it was concerning Wood was still the Minister for Auckland and believed he should be stood down from all of his portfolios.
Wood is also the Immigration Minister, the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister and an Associate Minister of Finance, alongside Megan Woods.
Green co-leader Marama Davidson said she thought it was good Wood had been stood down while clarity on the situation was sought.
On Tuesday afternoon, Hipkins said Wood had found himself in an "unacceptable situation".
"He needs to take a little bit of time to make sure that he does get his potential conflicts of interest sorted."
Asked what explanation he'd been given to allow Wood to retain his other portfolios, Hipkins said Wood had expressed divesting the shares was "if you like, a matter of life admin".
"It's not something that he has sufficiently prioritised. He should have, it is important that he does that now. I would have expected him to have dealt with it by now."
Hipkins said he did not see the transgression as one "so significant that he should lose his job altogether".
The Prime Minister did not believe there was a conflict of interest issue with the Auckland portfolio and said he had sought advice from the Cabinet Office on that point.
He said the Prime Minister's Office was advised of the issue on Friday night but he was not personally aware of it until Monday night.
He did not accept views that he was a bad leader or poorly managed his caucus.
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