Kiri Allan rose to prominence under then prime minister Jacinda Ardern, taking the Justice Minster role and being widely praised for her handling of the March 2021 tsunami warnings.
But personal and professional battles surfaced and she has now resigned all her ministerial portfolios after being arrested following a car crash in Wellington last night.
The former justice minister has been charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer.
She also returned a breath test over the legal limit but at a level considered an infringement offence. Police have not pressed charges in relation to that.
Allan said in a statement this morning she's heading home to Gisborne to consider her future in politics.
"Over recent weeks I’ve faced a number of personal difficulties. I took time off to address those, and believed I was okay to juggle those challenges with the pressure of being a Minister.
"My actions yesterday show I wasn’t okay, and I’ve let myself and my colleagues down."
Rise to prominence
Allan's political career began in 2017 when she entered the House as a list MP and in 2020, she won the East Coast electorate.
She quickly gained popularity, with Ardern once describing her as "remarkable".
On March 5 2021, Allan led Kiwis through a tsunami alert and massive evacuation.
Then in April 2021, Allan said she was taking medical leave from Parliament after being diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer.
The then 37-year-old MP called it the fight of her life, revealing a six-centimetre-long tumour was discovered the same day she led the country through a tsunami and evacuation alert in March.
At the time, Ardern said: "She was dealing with that level of uncertainty around a diagnosis and yet there she was, on the podium helping to lead the country through a really dramatic civil defence moment.
"It was remarkable, but she is remarkable."
Kiri Allan's fall from grace
Two years on and Allan was still making headlines - this time for all the wrong reasons.
In March 2023, RNZ released two comments made by Allan at the farewell for her then partner Māni Dunlop.
Allan made the speech at RNZ's Wellington newsroom to more than 50 RNZ staff including chief executive Paul Thompson, head of news Richard Sutherland and board member Jane Wrightson.
Her comments took aim at RNZ's treatment of Māori reporters and "urged the public broadcaster to have a look at its culture".
"It's for your SLT (senior leadership team) to pick up. It's for your boards to pick up. That there is something within the organisation that will not, and has not been able to keep Māori talent and that is a question that I think deserves some deep reflection," she said in her speech.
"That you can come in as an intern and that you can get to the top spot, not just because you are Māori but because you have trained them well, you have nurtured them well."
Allan later apologised for her comments.
Meng Foon link
In April this year, 1News revealed that Meng Foon, the then race relations commissioner, donated thousands of dollars to Allan in the run up to the 2020 General Election.
Foon, who previously spent six terms as mayor of Gisborne, was appointed by the Labour Government to the role of Race Relations Commissioner in July 2019 by the then justice minister Andrew Little.
Appointed in 2019 Meng Foon, who is supposed to be politically impartial, donated thousands to Labour MP Kiri Allan's campaign in 2020. (Source: 1News)
The following year Allan won the East Coast seat for Labour and donations declared by the MP show Meng Foon and his wife Ying Foon gave $1500.
A company called Triple Eight Investments Limited also provided Allan a rent subsidy worth $9185 according to the declaration.
Triple Eight Investments has three directors, including Meng and Ying Foon.
Apart from Labour's East Coast branch the Foons' were the biggest financial contributors to Kiri Allan's campaign.
Later Allan defended the decision not to declare a conflict of interest with Foon.
She told Q+A's Jack Tame at the time she "wasn't required" to make a conflict of interest declaration.
"The Cabinet office said that I hadn’t broken any rules. I’m happy to disclose any single person. They already have been disclosed in our Electoral Commission disclosures anyway. It’s quite simple to bring those across to our conflicts for Cabinet."
"There’s been no breach," Allan said.
Allegations Allan 'mistreated' staff
More recently, Allan was accused of mistreating a staffer, "yelling and screaming" at them.
On June 30, Stuff reported on one public servant who said the minister was "yelling and screaming at me on the phone so loud that my staff in the room could hear it".
One other staffer told the publication that they had "concerns" about how the minister dealt with staff.
At the time, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he still had confidence in Allan despite the allegation.
"Kiri is an incredibly competent and talented person who's clearly had a bit of a rough run lately."
The Department of Conservation (DOC) also claimed that Allan experienced a breakdown in the relationship with staff.
The senior minister spoke to media after reports yesterday of issues in her office. (Source: 1News)
DOC director-general Penny Nelson confirmed reports a staff member had ended their secondment to Allan's office early more than a year ago, because working relationships were "not running as smoothly" as they might.
Nelson said it was bad enough that she discussed it with Internal Affairs, which manages Ministerial Services, but no further concerns were brought to her attention and she believed relationships had improved.
Allan was on leave at the time, and posted on social media explaining she had been struggling with her mental health but was feeling better and would be back at work the following day.
On July 14, Hipkins announced Allan would return to work and resume her full duties from July 17.
"Kiri has had a rough time lately, both personally and at work.
"I'm pleased she is in a much better space after taking some time off and getting some professional support.
"Mental wellbeing should never be a source of shame or embarrassment.
"I commend Kiri for speaking publicly about her recent struggles and I've been resolutely committed to supporting her through that."
SHARE ME