The following is a list of governmental and public sector scandals in New Zealand. While New Zealand generally scores very well on international indices of corruption, there have been several notable high-profile scandals including cases of cover-ups relating to politics, economics, or public sector debacles, or to the private lives of individual government representatives.
List of scandals
1870s 1879 The "Luckie incident". John Ballance, the Colonial Treasurer, appointed journalist and former MP David Luckie as Government Insurance Commissioner. Luckie was editor of The Evening Post and had been a consistent supporter of the Government in his editorials. While Ballance thought Luckie as able and good a man as he could get for the position, the appointment was viewed as political. There was further controversy regarding Luckie's salary which was offered at £800 per annum which caused an argument between Ballance and several other ministers thinking it should be far lower. The £800 salary was eventually set by parliament.
1890s 1892 Arthur Winton Brown, the Mayor of Wellington, absconds to Australia to escape the consequences of the possible collapse of his businesses. 1898 Liberal Party MP William Larnach commits suicide in a parliament committee room, the result of impending financial disasters and (reputedly) rumours over a sexual relationship between his wife and her step-son. 1899 The "Marine Scandal". John Hutcheson fellow MP Frederick Pirani accused Prime Minister Richard Seddon and Minister of Marine William Hall-Jones of using ministerial influence in order to obtain Mariners certificates for unqualified candidates, which was in contravention to the recent Shipping and Seamen's Act. However, the Marine Commission report declared that the charges were unfounded. Hutcheson resigned his seat in order to exonerate himself triggering a by-election, which he won.
1900s
1905 Francis Fisher, a ringleader of the New Liberal Party caused controversy in the so-called "voucher incident", in which he alleged that Richard Seddon's son had been received payment from a government department for work he had not done. The allegations were subsequently disproven, and the New Liberals suffered considerable public backlash.
1910s 1918 MP Paddy Webb is controversially sent to jail for refusing military service.
1920s 1920 Charles Mackay the Mayor of Wanganui was convicted of the attempted murder of Walter D'Arcy Cresswell, who had been blackmailing Mackay to expose his homosexuality to the public and discredit him.
1930s
1934 Sir Āpirana Ngata then Minister of Native Affairs in the United-Reform Coalition government resigns as minister after accusations of departmental maladministration and favouritism were supported by a Royal Commission. 1935 Officials from New Zealand's national radio service, at the time part of the New Zealand Post Office, attempt to block a broadcast by the popular Rev. Colin Scrimgeour, fearing that he would advise his listeners to vote for the opposition Labour Party. The Coalition government is implicated, causing a furore.Fraser, B. (ed.) (1986) The New Zealand Book of Events. Auckland: Reed Methuen. p. 259. 1938–40 The Lee Affair: Severe disharmony is caused within the Labour Party by a long running feud between Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and senior Labour Party member John A. Lee.
1940s 1941 The 'Nathan Incident': a scandal developed revolving around Hubert Nathan, a Citizens' Association candidate for the Wellington Harbour Board who was critical of the number of union secretaries on the Labour ticket for the 1941 civic elections. Nathan alleged that 5 unionists used "Gestapo tactics" to try and blackmail him into withdrawing his nomination and accusing them of Antisemitism. The press ran articles on the alleged confrontation (which was refuted by Labour) and as a result no Labour candidates were elected to any of the three local authorities in Wellington until 1950. 1942 Bert Kyle resigned from the National Party at the climax of a personality feud with leader Sidney Holland. Kyle publicly accused Holland of blackmailing him into becoming a "yes man" or be expelled from the party. Kyle remained an independent MP and retired at the 1943 election.
1950s 1956 In February 1956, Prime Minister Sidney Holland announced that Dean Eyre, the Minister of Industries and Commerce and Minister of Customs, had been granted six weeks leave in order to attend to private business in Sweden. The Leader of the Opposition, Walter Nash, was critical of the decision. Nash questioned the appropriateness of a minister of the crown conducting his private business abroad. Holland was quick to dismiss any suggestion of impropriety, but was soon to swallow his words. Both The Evening Post and The Dominion (Wellington papers who normally wrote editorials slanted in favour of National) also went on the attack in editorials, urging Holland to reconsider. A surprised Holland reacted quickly and Eyre was forced to cancel his trip, and was stripped of his portfolios and given to Eric Halstead. To ease the situation, Eyre was allocated Halstead's portfolios of Social Security and Tourism instead. 1959 Truth (NZ) Ltd v Holloway: In March 1959 the tabloid newspaper New Zealand Truth quoted Warren Freer, MP for , as having stated "See Phil, and Phil will fix it" to Henry Judd, an émigré importer, insinuating Phil Holloway the Minister of Industries and Commerce (who was in charge of import controls) could grant Judd an ease-of-passage remedy for controlled imports. The allegation evolved into a libel case in which Holloway was eventually awarded in damages and a further in costs.
1960s 1966 The Mason Affair: New Labour Party leader Norman Kirk, wishing to rejuvenate the party, puts pressure on Rex Mason and several other elderly MPs to retire. A messy deselection of Mason occurred causing bad publicity for Labour ahead of that years election with several party officeholders in Mason's electorate resigning in protest of his forced retirement.
1970s
1970 A public leadership struggle between Vernon Cracknell and his deputy John O'Brien for leadership of the Social Credit Party ended in controversy. O'Brien was the victor, but his confrontational style caused him to lose his position after only a short time in office. He then split from Social Credit, founding his own New Democratic Party. 1976 Fitzgerald v Muldoon: Prime Minister Robert Muldoon advised the Governor-General to abolish Labour's superannuation scheme without new legislation. In the case it was found that revoking a law in such a manner without consent of Parliament was illegal under the Bill of Rights 1689. Labour MP Gerald O'Brien is charged with molesting two boys, but the case is thrown out. Despite this, he was subsequently deselected as Labour's candidate for and failed to secure re-election as an independent. 1977 The Moyle Affair: Muldoon accuses high-ranking Labour Party MP Colin Moyle of having been questioned by the police on suspicion of homosexual activities, at that time illegal in New Zealand. Moyle is forced to resign from parliament. Muldoon advised Queen Elizabeth II to appoint Sir Keith Holyoake as Governor-General upon Sir Denis Blundell's term ending. As the Governor-General is a non-partisan position this caused much controversy with Labour leader Bill Rowling criticising the appointment as cronyism and complaining that he had not been consulted on the appointment, stating he would remove Holyoake should Labour win the 1978 general election.
1980s 1980 September: The Marginal Loans Affair: Minister of Agriculture Duncan MacIntyre gave a Marginal Land Boards loan to his daughter and son-in-law for a Wellington property they purchased. A public inquiry later concluded that MacIntyre had not acted willfully improperly, though there were several public resignations of National Party officeholders in MacIntyre's East Cape electorate. October: Former deputy mayor of Lower Hutt, John Seddon, applied for the position of Town Clerk of the Porirua City Council. His appointment, shortly before the 1980 local body elections, triggered controversy, with allegations that it had been a "jack up" by the Labour majority on the Porirua City Council and Seddon's friendship with John Burke. A group of senior Porirua City Council officers jointly signed a letter during the appointment row saying he wasn't the right man for the job as Seddon was not a qualified accountant, the usual prior professional qualification of town clerks at that time, but he had been responsible for managing a company with three times the turnover of the Porirua City Council. Ombudsman Lester Castle was called in to investigate and eventually cleared the appointment process as being sufficiently objective. Following the 1980 elections Labour lost their majority on the council. 1984 Independent MP John Kirk (formerly Labour Party) and the son of former Prime Minister Norman Kirk, absconds, owing more than $280,000. He is arrested in the US, held in prison, and then extradited to New Zealand. Following the 1984 general election, a constitutional crisis occurred when Muldoon refused to act on instruction of the incoming government, causing a growing currency crisis to worsen. Eventually he relented, after his position as National Party leader was threatened by members of his caucus. Prior to the snap election, Muldoon had announced its date to journalists while being very clearly drunk. National Cabinet Minister Keith Allen died. Immediately prior to his death Muldoon had refused to accept Allen's resignation from cabinet. Allen found the burdens of holding the office combined with his worsening affliction of diabetes were making his life too stressful. Other National MPs such as Hugh Templeton and Don McKinnon think Muldoon's harsh treatment of Allen contributed significantly to his premature death. 1986-1987 The Māori loan affair: an unauthorised attempt by the Department of Māori Affairs to raise money overseas for Māori development.
1990s
1992 Rebel National MP Gilbert Myles instigated a political scandal in September 1992 when he accused former Labour MP Fred Gerbic of operating a graft while he was a minister. Myles, under Parliamentary privilege, alleged that Gerbic took financial donations in exchange for residency approvals in his capacity as associate Minister of Immigration and in support tabled a transcript of an alleged tape recorded conversation between two Auckland Labour Party members. In response Gerbic denied the allegations and maintained his innocence throughout. The claims were investigated by John McGrath QC who, in November 1993, found no evidence of impropriety by Gerbic and dismissed Myles' claims. 1994 The Winebox Inquiry investigates alleged corruption and incompetence in both the Serious Fraud Office and Inland Revenue Department. The inquiry is instigated after revelations by New Zealand First MP Winston Peters, and named after his habit of keeping the allegation documents in a winebox. 1995–96 The "Antoinette Beck" affair: National/New Zealand First MP Michael Laws resigns after being subject to a conflict of interest inquiry over employing a company partly owned by his wife to conduct a poll, signed off by a non-existent "Antoinette Beck"."NZ First president dismisses Laws rumour", National Business Review, 28 July 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2016. 1996 Governor General Sir Michael Hardie Boys causes controversy over openly stating his opposition to Minister of Youth Affairs Deborah Morris's suggestion that young people have access to contraceptives. 1999 March: The Integrated National Crime Information System, a computer network intended to be used in coordination of police resources, reported to have massive cost over-runs and operational problems.