Stuart Nash

It raised concerns about potential interference in independent police operations. The Cabinet Manual for ministers says ministers don't comment on or involve ...

The police minister has handed in his resignation after admitting on radio he encouraged the police commissioner to appeal a court decision.

Although Nash, who’s been in Parliament on and off since 2008, had acted as police minister when Labour first came to power in 2017. He firmly stood by his actions, reiterating that the sentencing he disagreed with was “a very bad decision”. On Wednesday morning, Nash said the sentencing decision was “a very bad decision”. I believe that it was a serious error of judgement. So there's no harm done,” Parker said. “It was a relatively brief conversation. Coster has been asked to provide his recollection of the call, which happened in 2021. And therefore I've accepted his resignation as soon as it was offered,” Hipkins said. But Nash would keep his other ministerial roles, including as minister for economic development, forestry and fisheries. * He described his call with Coster as “chewing the fat with a guy who was a mate”. [after admitting on radio ](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131501757/stuart-nash-says-police-interference-claim-was-just-him-chewing-fat-with-top-cop) [he encouraged Police Commissioner](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131501757/stuart-nash-says-police-interference-claim-was-just-him-chewing-fat-with-top-cop) Andrew Coster to appeal a court decision.

It comes after Nash asked the Police Commissioner about appealing a decision before he became police minister.

Similarly, they should not comment on the results of particular cases, on matters that are subject to suppression orders, or on any sentence handed down by a court." Again Minister Nash’s actions do not meet this expectation. Hipkins' weak response is to make sure he again isn’t the Minister of Police." "Mr Hipkins is now making an error of judgement himself through his half measure of only accepting Mr Nash’s resignation as Police Minister. Both make him unfit to remain as a Minister in any portfolio, not just as Police Minister. "This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision.

This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police ...

Again Minister Nash’s actions do not meet this expectation. Minister Nash’s comments on this occasion do not meet these standards. Statement From The Prime Minister On Stuart Nash

That didn't take long. Six and a half hours, and Stuart Nash was gone. Just after half past 7, he went on Newstalk ZB and boasted about calling the police.

And just for calling, for that error of judgement, John Key sacked him. He needed to go. I suspect he might’ve been fired.

Andy Coster says he belives Nash was just "venting" about the sentencing in a criminal case and it was "not a request".

On Wednesday morning, Nash said the sentencing decision was “a very bad decision”. He firmly stood by his actions, reiterating that the sentencing he disagreed with was “a very bad decision”. Although Nash, who’s been in Parliament on and off since 2008, had acted as police minister when Labour first came to power in 2017. I believe that it was a serious error of judgement. “I regarded the phone call as a venting of that frustration, and nothing more. “It was a relatively brief conversation. So there's no harm done,” Parker said. And therefore I've accepted his resignation as soon as it was offered,” Hipkins said. But Nash would keep his other ministerial roles, including as minister for economic development, forestry and fisheries. He described his call with Coster as “chewing the fat with a guy who was a mate”. Hipkins said calling the commissioner to discuss the prosecution, and refusing to apologise for that, was “an error of judgement”. Coster said he recalled receiving a phone call from Nash where he “expressed frustration at the sentencing of an individual”.

Nash is gone. But what of the court decision itself – was the judge unfair? Why would Nash call Police Commissioner Andrew Coster about it?

[Stuart Nash has resigned](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-encouraging-police-commissioner-to-appeal-a-ruling) as police minister after admitting he encouraged the top police boss to appeal a court decision. The judge said a mitigating factor was that it wasn’t gang-related. On Wednesday afternoon, Coster said in a statement: “I regarded the phone call as a venting of that frustration, and nothing more. Such policy needs to be considered cooly and calmly”. [Grant Fletcher](https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/127744490/man-who-wrestled-shotgun-from-home-invader-says-someone-could-have-been-killed), a specialist firearms lawyer, said it was appalling that Nash had intervened, as Nash wouldn’t have had all the facts in front of him like the judge did. Nash was a government minister when the phone call was made, but he was not Minister of Police at that time. [Stuart Nash resigns as police minister after encouraging police commissioner to appeal a ruling](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-encouraging-police-commissioner-to-appeal-a-ruling?rm=a) [ran until December that year](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118361702/claims-that-banned-firearms-are-being-hidden-as-gun-buyback-ends-with-50000-collected), but the man hid the AR-15 under his mattress until it was found in March 2021. [June 2021 decision](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125470896/community-detention-for-southland-man-with-ar15-gun-under-mattress), a [Southland](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125470896/community-detention-for-southland-man-with-ar15-gun-under-mattress) man was sentenced to four months’ community detention after he was found with an AR-15, a 12 gauge shotgun, two AR-15 magazines, two Ruger magazines and thousands of rounds of ammunition at his house. [accepted the resignation](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131507937/ruthless-chris-hipkins-moves-against-stuart-nash-and-purges-another-preelection-problem), but Nash will keep his other ministerial roles. - Nash was a government minister at that time, but he was not Minister of Police. - Stuart Nash resigned as police minister on Wednesday after admitting he encouraged the police commissioner to appeal a court decision.

Stuart Nash has resigned his police portfolio after revealing he'd called the Commissioner to ask about appealing a court case. In an interview with Newsta.

Nash resigned as Police Minister only hours after an interview with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB in which he admitted asking Police Commissioner Andrew Coster if ...

Nash regained the police portfolio this year after Hipkins became Prime Minister. The great-grandson of Sir Walter Nash, one of New Zealand’s most famous politicians and Prime Minister between 1957-60, Nash entered Parliament in 2008 on the Labour Party list. “I buy into the fact that in hindsight we could’ve done some things differently ... Within the Labour caucus, he is considered one of their more conservative MPs. “We get all these vans driving round at the moment that are not self-contained, so the driver or the passenger wants to go to the toilet - we all know examples of this - they pull over to the side of the road and they s*** in our waterways.” [“they s*** in our waterways”](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/freedom-campers-they-s-in-our-waterways-stuart-nash-to-ban-tourist-vans-that-arent-self-contained/2ZLJESRJ2ET4C3PPLUMSAQKVKI/). His traditional approach was seen as a good counter to National and Act’s increasing criticism that the Government was “soft on crime”. [enjoyed the police role](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/nash-relished-police-role-but-wanted-more-economic-involvement/2PGAYCTEJJDBLE66MRZ4TT64I4/), he had always had a stronger interest in economic issues and in the 2020 Labour Government, under Ardern’s leadership, he took on Minister for Economic and Regional Development, Tourism Minister, Forestry Minister and Minister for Small Business. [“a mixture of racism, anti-vax”](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-delta-outbreak-stuart-nash-wont-apologise-to-groundswell-protesters-says-disgusting-elements-hijacked-website/7DQALCTBFR44DVPOFCNANA76KI/) and other sentiments. At the time, then Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard said he was told that both men were being “loud and uncouth”, and Nash had apologised to the man the following day for his “bad language”. In 2021, he received at least $51,000 in direct and indirect donations from Troy Bowker, a controversial investment banker who accused animation entrepreneur Sir Ian Taylor of “sucking up to the left Māori-loving agenda”. To make Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ decision to let him go easier, Nash in a separate interview appeared to downplay the issue and argued he was simply “chewing the fat” with a “mate”.

Nash is gone after revealing on The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB that two years ago, he asked the Police Commissioner to appeal a judge's sentencing.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has also now addressed the conversation Mr Nash and he shared in 2021, saying the then tourism minister Nash was "venting" his ...

"Those, in my view, mean that he should not continue as minister of police. Mr Coster said he did not view it as a request by the Napier MP to intervene in the case. Mr Coster had reportedly said Mr Nash’s involvement in the 2021 case had "no bearing on the commissioner’s decisions or police decisions", Mr Hipkins said. Mr Hipkins said Mr Nash assured him he had no connection to the 2021 case or anyone involved, and also promised it was the only occasion he had spoken to Mr Coster in that manner. "I regarded the phone call as a venting of that frustration, and nothing more," Mr Coster said in a statement. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has also now addressed the conversation Mr Nash and he shared in 2021, saying the then tourism minister Nash was "venting" his frustration at a person’s sentencing.

Labour's Arena Williams, National's Simeon Brown and commentator Ben Thomas have all weighed in on Nash's resignation as Police Minister.

the investigation and prosecution of offences." "I know that he loves that job in the police portfolio, he won't be able to do that any more and it would have been a grave decision for him." he's reflected on that and he offered the prime minister his resignation which was swiftly accepted," Williams said. The Police Act states: "The [Police] Commissioner is not responsible to, and must act independently of, any Minister of the Crown (including any person acting on the instruction of a Minister of the Crown) regarding... "Calling the Police Commissioner, whether he was Minister of Police at the time or minister in another portfolio, is totally crossing the line. "Stuart Nash is not a waiter who set the table wrong on his second week in the job, he's not just a minister of five years standing, this is his second time as Police Minister," Thomas told Breakfast this morning.

"I think a cleaner break would've been… to have dismissed him altogether."

A couple of names have cropped up as replacements for Nash following his resignation yesterday.

The opposition is calling for Nash to be [sacked from his remaining portfolios](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2303/S00124/stuart-nash-unfit-to-remain-as-a-minister.htm). [Kieran McAnulty or Andrew Little](https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/03/jenna-lynch-stuart-nash-beaten-by-his-own-bravado-and-who-could-become-the-new-police-minister.html) could be in line to pick up the police portfolio permanently. Jo Moir thinks McAnulty could be the right pick if Hipkins is looking for another “no-nonsense guy from the regions who says it like it is” like Nash, but with less of the bluster. [Luke Malpass writes](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131506709/stuart-nashs-downfall-and-the-dangers-of-bigdick-politics) that the interview with Hosking was “a case of my tough on crime outrage is bigger than yours”. [speak with Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman not once, but twice](https://thespinoff.co.nz/covid-19/11-01-2022/stuart-nash-valiantly-attempts-to-explain-his-shirtless-vax-pic) about why he is not wearing a shirt in a photo of him getting his Covid vaccination. It was possibly a tad late in the day for Stuart’s Nash’s resignation as police minister to be a true “gone by lunchtime” moment but I did return from lunch yesterday to the news.

I want to talk to him about the retail crime stats. That's how these things work - he wants on, I see an opportunity to get a few answers about other matters.

Yes, to do what he did is, of course, against the rules. That, for all the consequences that came out of it, is the real world. Would he personally have liked to have done more and been tougher? I want to talk to him about the retail crime stats. In a party of crazed ideologues, he was comparatively normal. That’s how these things work - he wants on, I see an opportunity to get a few answers about other matters.

Stuart Nash, who resigned as police minister in a matter of hours on Wednesday, admits he "completely stuffed up" but plans to keep working on his other ...

"I think the New Zealand public are ultimately very fair people. "He's a conscientious, hard-working minister who's made a mistake. I've been a minister for five-and-a-half years now, when I became a cabinet minister I read the Cabinet Manual because it's sort of required reading. let's concentrate on the issues that are really important to the people of the East Coast. "The prime minister's made it very clear to me if I stuff up like this again then I'm gone. I'm very, very engaged with what I need to get done in the Bay and I'm loving Forestry, Economic Development and Fisheries," he said. I've made a mistake, I apologised for it," he said. "I'm aware of the Cabinet manual. He's owned the mistake. everyone knows I love that police portfolio, the prime minister has stripped that portfolio from me. I will work incredibly hard to earn back the trust of the prime minister and the country, and people will judge me on that." "I've got a lot of work to do across my portfolios and a lot of work to do in my home region of Hawke's Bay and my electorate and I'm really keen to make sure that we get it right there, so I'll be working incredibly hard to make sure we get it right for the people of Hawke's Bay."

It took the PM about six hours to drop Stuart Nash as police minister, swiftly clearing another threat on the path to polling day.

Attorney-General David Parker said he spoke to Nash in person and told him he was “wrong”. And Hipkins this week [culled a second round of policies](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131482726/policy-purge-chris-hipkins-cuts-a-swathe-of-once-trumpeted-government-projects) he deemed ineffective or unpopular, a distraction from the “bread and butter” voters care about. Hipkins said this was “proportionate”, and he appointed Megan Woods acting police minister. Hipkins, speaking to reporters, said Nash breached Cabinet rules that spell out ministers should not comment on the outcome of specific judicial decisions, and needed to be professional in their dealings with officials. Nash was not police minister at the time he made the phone call. we should not be criticising individual court decisions such as this.” During a debate in the House on Nash’s resignation, proposed by the National Party and accepted by Labour MPs, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said it was “not possible at all” for Nash to remain as police minister. Woods said Nash was “suffering the consequences” of breaching the Cabinet manual Sometime between 11am and 2pm, Nash sent Hipkins a message tendering his resignation. Parker said Nash also called him in 2021 to express his annoyance at the judgement – the correct course of action for a Cabinet minister – but he was not aware of Nash calling Coster. What followed, according to Hipkins, was a “relatively short” conversation in which the prime minister accepted Nash’s resignation for a “serious error of judgement”. [taking the police portfolio from Stuart Nash](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-phone-call-to-police-commissioner-about-criminal-case), purging yet another problem that [threatened his path to polling day](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131453595/labour-and-national-neckandneck-with-just-one-seat-in-it-in-latest-poll).

The vast majority are up to the task, but it's a tough gig. Napier MP Stuart Nash was reshuffled into the police portfolio, on top of forestry, just weeks ...

And as he punched back and forth on Mike Hosking’s show, his biggest boast was to admit breaching the Cabinet manual. We were all caught on the hop. It’d almost be impossible not to cut a few corners.

A day after quitting as police minister, Stuart Nash says he can and will continue to work in other ministerial roles.

[Hipkins accepted his resignation as police minister on Wednesday afternoon](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-phone-call-to-police-commissioner-about-criminal-case), saying he’d broken rules around not influencing police and not directly criticising the judiciary. Hipkins said on Wednesday Nash had not offered his resignation from the other portfolios – only from police. [Nash had doubled down on his actions](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-phone-call-to-police-commissioner-about-criminal-case). He told reporters the sentencing decision, which saw a Southland man with unlicensed and illegal firearms given home detention, wasn’t harsh enough. There’s now pressure from the Opposition and political commentators for Nash to lose his other portfolios as well. “The separation or division of state power is fundamental to our democracy.

And on matters like police there is no doubt he is passionate about it and fully understood the trouble his Government is in with crime. All he could ever end ...

Yes, to do what he did is, of course, against the rules. That, for all the consequences that came out of it, is the real world. Would he personally have liked to have done more and been tougher? All he could ever end up saying though was that we put 1400 more cops on the beat. In a party of crazed ideologues, he was comparatively normal. That's how these things work - he wants on, I see an opportunity to get a few answers about other matters, we set it up.

A minister phoning the police commissioner to talk about a court sentence – and then boasting about it on radio – goes straight to the heart of the rule of ...

It’s up to the prime minister to decide whether a breach is serious enough for any punishment, and whether that’s enough is something voters can take into account. They should not be telling judges how to rule, least of all in cases where the Crown is one of the parties. Also, one of things that should help protect police independence is the commissioner of police. Whoever was responsible for the prosecution at that point (which might be the police legal section, or possibly a Crown prosecutor by now) may decide it is a good idea to appeal, and they will refer the matter to Crown Law to consider. Not least because he was minister of police when he made the comments on radio, but also because under New Zealand’s constitutional system of cabinet government, every minister can act as any other minister. Nash also: publicly commented (more than once) on the result of court sentencing, something the Cabinet Manual prohibits, and Nash said that judges “need to read the room on this”, which adds a risk not only to the independence of police, but also the independence of courts. They may get advice from the police legal section or even a crown solicitor, but it’s up to the cop. The police are a very clear exception to this, in both the Policing Act and the Cabinet Manual. Prosecutors can advise if asked, and drop or change the charges later if they take responsibility for the prosecution, but at the start, whoever is investigating determines whether to charge. The existence of independent courts plays a beneficial role across society, even in things as varied as the willingness of others to invest in New Zealand businesses. In countries where police aren’t viewed as impartial, respect for the rule of law tends to break down. Nash remains in cabinet as the minister of economic development, forestry and oceans and fisheries.

Cabinet minister Stuart Nash is set to come under further pressure amind revelations the Solicitor General had considered prosecuting him for contempt over ...

In the case of a Minister, we concluded that the Attorney-General was the appropriate person to convey that message.” “The Cabinet Manual is the authoritative guide to what they can and can’t do as a Minister of the Crown. The email said that their office frequently received contempt complaints, most often against the media. “The Attorney-General did so. If you do a black and white breach of the Cabinet manual - and it’s a serious breach - you’re gone.” Nash told Hosking he had said to Coster that surely police would appeal the sentence. It is a breach of the Cabinet Manual to comment on proceedings that are before the court, or on the courts’ decisions in specific cases. “She recommended to the Attorney-General that he speak to Minister Nash directly to convey that his comments were unacceptable and remind him not to make public comment on cases before the courts. In a statement in response to today’s developments, Hipkins said the 2020 case was “in the past” - but said Nash knew he was “on notice over any future serious errors of judgement.” “The Attorney-General did that and the Solicitor-General considered the matter resolved to her satisfaction,” Hipkins said. On the 2020 case, he said Attorney-General David Parker was asked by the Solicitor-General to speak to Minister Nash to convey that his comments were unacceptable. The Crown Law office confirmed to Newstalk ZB that the Solicitor-General had considered prosecuting Nash for it – but had instead recommended to Attorney General David Parker to reprimand Nash for “unacceptable” comments.

The Prime Minister has acted swiftly to get Stuart Nash out of the police portfolio, but he's only dealt with half the problem, writes political editor Jo ...

Reader donations are critical to what we do. Nash thought the court judgment was inadequate. It was a return to the old when Hipkins became Prime Minister and gave Nash the job back – a no-nonsense guy from the regions who says it like it is. Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tried to break with the profile of police ministers past when she put Williams in the job. Nash wasn’t the minister in charge of police at the time of the call but was subsequently reappointed to the role in February this year. When Hipkins says Nash has paid the price, he’s only been punished for the first part – making the phone call – and the conflict that creates as the minister in charge of police.