PM stands down Michael Wood as Transport Minister over Auckland Airport shares

Oct 20, 2023

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Michael Wood has been stood down as Transport Minister by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins today over failing to properly disclose shares owned in Auckland Airport.

In a statement, Hipkins said he had spoken to Wood this morning and advised Wood that he would be stood down from the transport portfolio "while any remaining issues around his conflicts are appropriately resolved".

"Michael has indicated to me his intention to sell the shares in Auckland International Airport as soon as possible. I believe that is the appropriate course of action," Hipkins said.

"He has also indicated he will work through with the Registrar of Pecuniary Interests how best to resolve the issues around his past declarations."

Kieran McAnulty will be the acting Transport Minister.

Hipkins told media the key issue in deciding to stand Wood down was the fact while Wood had disclosed the shares to the Cabinet Office, he said the shares would be sold.

However, as a result of an error on Wood's part, the shares were not sold for years after they were disclosed.

"One of the challenges is that the Cabinet Office had been advised by [Wood] on a number of occasions that he was divesting himself of the shares that clearly hasn't happened. That is quite a material issue," Hipkins said.

Hipkins hinted that there was a way back into the fold for Wood.

"I don't think the transgression is one that is so significant that he should lose his job altogether, but clearly he does need to take the time to get it right," he said.

Wood said he felt Hipkins’ decision was "the appropriate one".

"I accept it with good grace, I made a mistake here, I accept that, that's on me and the appropriate thing that I do now is to fix that."

He said in the coming days he would be completing the sale of his airport shares, a process he had previously initiated but the shares had not been sold.

"So I started the process of selling the shares last year, basically came across a hitch which is that I needed information back from the share register that didn't arrive, I think because they had an old email address and, in the reality of the fairly busy life that I have, I didn't get back to it," he said.

"Now, that's not an excuse, that's the honest answer."

Wood said he didn't offer to stand down from the transport portfolio, saying he and Hipkins had had a "constructive discussion" during which the PM set out "clear expectations" about what Wood must do.

Wood said he was "enormously disappointed" to have to let go of the portfolio.

He was hopeful he would be returned the transport portfolio after the shares were sold.

Wood wouldn't answer whether Hipkins had assured him he could return as transport minister, saying he wouldn't speak on the PM's behalf.

"I personally take matters of transparency and ethics, I feel them really deeply, they’re enormously important to give people confidence in the political process, so I feel annoyed with myself for having gotten these two things wrong, and I accept that I should put them right before I come back into the role as well."

National leader Christopher Luxon said Wood's position was becoming "pretty untenable".

Luxon said Wood should have been suspended when Hipkins found out about the shares on Friday.

"I think he should have suspended him immediately at that point in time," Luxon said.

"I think he should have spent the last three days finding out exactly what the situation is and coming with some very clear answers," he said.

Wood said he had not offered his resignation, but admitted he had made an error.

"I have acknowledged in this case that I have made an error in terms of not declaring these shares earlier on. I did declare them last year and I did, from the beginning of my time as minister, make the Cabinet Office fully aware of the shares that I held," he said.

"I recognise I made an error in terms of not declaring these in the first register I had as minister. That was a mistake. I do apologise for that," he said.

On Tuesday, the Herald revealed Wood owned about 1530 shares in the airport, worth about $13,000 at the current share price. He is currently in the process of selling the shares.

Wood has owned the shares since he was a teenager and should have declared them in each one of his pecuniary interest statements since becoming an MP.

Instead, they were only declared in January 2022. Wood said he had initially believed they were held inside a trust, which he did declare.

He said he declared the shares properly once he became aware they were not held inside a trust. Once it became clear they were not held in a trust, Wood said he declared them appropriately.

He said the shares were declared to the Cabinet Office shortly after he became a minister in 2020. Wood did not go back and correct previous pecuniary interest declarations, which he should have.

The issue is complicated by the fact that for more than a year after November 2020, Wood was the minister in charge of the aviation sector. Responsibility for that sector was handed over to an associate minister in 2021.

Wood said that he had tried to sell the shares in his first year as a minister.

"I had instructed the person who deals with these things for me to effectively get rid of those shares. I thought that had happened, I was wrong about that so I didn't declare them that year," Wood said.

"When I prepared my register of interest for the following year, and I investigated these matters I determined that in fact, I still held the shares and that's when I declared them," he said.

Wood said he began the process of selling shares last year.

"I began engaging with the person who deals with these things for me around that. There was some additional information that I needed to receive from the share registry which didn't come through and the process stalled at that point - again, that's my responsibility," Wood said.

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