Clearing the decks

“I have decided the best course of action for the parties involved, the National Party, my family and myself is to retire now.”

It is understood the altercation was with a young staff member who had worked there for less than a year prior to the incident.

It followed Parliament’s review into bullying and harassment in the workplace – the Francis Review – which was completed in 2019 and led to Parliament adopting a code of conduct for MPs and Parliamentary managers and staffers.

Smith said he had decided to retire after losing the Nelson electorate in 2020, but that inquiry had prompted him to leave now.

The leaked report never surfaced.  At the time I said:

Stand by today as the details emerge.  And wonder in amazement how National managed to keep quiet a potential story about bullying during an election campaign but managed somehow to lose control of the details at a time that suited it best.

Clearly the disclosure helped Collins.  One of her opponents, Smith, was replaced by one of her supporters Harete Hipango.

Then today, six months later, the details of the report broke.

From Steve Killagon in Stuff:

He allegedly shouted so loudly at one Parliamentary worker that spittle landed on their face. He told another: “I am the MP, and you’re just the f…ing secretary.” He was known as a “challenge” to work for. Nick Smith, a veteran of Parliament, protested his innocence, but a damning draft report played a key part in ending his career.

Six months later, the ripples have yet to subside: Smith’s former executive assistant is taking employment action against Parliamentary Services, claiming he was “left as roadkill”. His advocate has called for an official inquiry into Parliamentary Services boss Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, saying that a bullying culture remains rife.

It’s a dispute that begins in January 2020, when a politically-ambitious young man fresh from university secured his first job. He was employed by Parliamentary Services to work in the office of senior National Party MP Nick Smith, the so-called ‘father of the house’, the unofficial honorific for the longest continuously-serving MP.

The man was warned Smith would be “challenging”. At one gathering, when he was introduced as Smith’s EA, another MP yelled “good luck”. They were prophetic warnings.

The report details how the draft report into Smith’s behaviour was circulated in April, and how after input from Smith the final report is, according to the complainant, very similar to the draft.

Smith conceded that he was intense, very productive, demanding and direct.  The staff member is quoted as saying “[s]ome days, he would be fine. But when he gets wound up, he doesn’t stop, he just keeps going, and going and going.”

The article then says this:

The key incident unfolded when the staff member failed to find a phone number for TVNZ reporter Maiki Sherman. Smith wanted to call her after what he felt had been a poor interview. There was an angry confrontation.

Another Parliamentary Services employee walked past, and saw the staffer being “berated and just stripped totally”. She listened in until Smith slammed the door, and reported he was shouting: “That’s not f…ing good enough”, that the staffer said “Nick, please stop you can’t talk to me like that”, and Smith said, “I’ll speak to you however the f… I want to, I am the member of Parliament, I’m an elected official … and you’re just a f…ing secretary”.

The staffer himself recalls the incident as an “onslaught” in which Smith was “slamming his fists on my desk, standing over me” and confirmed Smith said “I’m the MP and you’re just the f…ing secretary” multiple times.

The witness called Whips’ office manager Sue Reid as she left the building, before bursting into tears on the train home. Reid collected Megan Campbell, chief of staff in then-National Party leader Judith Collins’ office, and went to investigate. Campbell told Burt they heard the yelling continuing as she walked down the corridor, and considered the behaviour to be serious misconduct.

The staff member found that his parliamentary services career ended, despite being promised protection during the inquiry.  The witness also no longer works in Parliament.  That place has ended the careers of far too many dedicated people.

Smith claims that the final report does not support a claim of bullying.  I would be interested to understand his definition of the term.

You have to wonder about the timing and source of the leak.  When Smith resigned the leaking of the report was apparently put on hold.  Releasing it now in the pre Christmas period has a definite feeling of National clearing the decks in the hope that 2022 is a better year for the party than 2021.