The prime minister says he suggested under-fire minister Kiri Allan to take a couple of weeks off, after being under "intense scrutiny".
In his regular post-Cabinet press conference on Monday afternoon, Chris Hipkins said he had had a brief conversation with Allan today, who has been facing questions about working relationships with her in her office while Hipkins was away in China on a trade mission.
A senior Government adviser had previously told 1News Allan was taking time away for mental health reasons, but in a tweet during the press conference, Allan said it was not related to mental health issues.
The East Coast MP said: "I'll take a couple of days off over school holidays because each parent has to as we don't have others that can take care of our kid. Please stop conflating my mental health with external allegations."
Hipkins said during his phone call with Allan today, he "suggested to her that she take a couple of weeks off".
This week and next are parliamentary recess weeks, meaning the House will not sit. It will sit again on July 18. Hipkins will head to Europe at the end of the week for a NATO leader's summit.
"Kiri had a rough couple of weeks and I think it would be good for her to take some time off. She's indicated that she would like to take some time off. It's school holidays, a lot of people will take a bit of a break during this time and I think that would be a good thing.
"When any minister has been the subject of intense scrutiny — as Kiri has been in the last few weeks — I would encourage them to take a bit of a breath, and that's what I'm doing here."
He said that did not mean her work as a minister would stop.
"If there's a need, at any point, for someone else to pick up any extra workload to help her out then I'm happy to facilitate that, but at this point I don't think that's needed."
Asked if he was confident in her ability to carry out her work as a minister in the future, Hipkins repeated that he planned to "catch up and have a good chat about where everything's at" when he returned from Europe.
"Kiri is an exceptionally talented minister who has contributed an awful lot to our Government."
He said the allegations showed there was more transparency and willingness to talk about workplace issues at Parliament due to a culture change and the Francis Review, which investigated bullying and harassment in the Parliamentary workplace.
Asked if any senior ministers had raised concerns about Allan's behaviour, Hipkins said he did not relay conversations he'd had with ministers about other ministers.
"I can provide an assurance that if anyone raises any serious issues about ministerial conduct that is something that I would take very seriously.
"I have been very clear with ministers in the time that I've been prime minister that my expectation is that all ministers will treat their departmental officials, the staff working in their office, with respect and with basic courtesy.
"I don't expect ministers to be absolutely perfect human beings, everybody will have a bad day from time to time, particularly when they're under pressure."
Hipkins said the chief executives of the relevant agencies were "satisfied that any issues that were raised informally were resolved at the time".
"None of these issues were raised formally.
"I don't see there need for there to be a separate layer of inquiry over the top of that."
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