National leader Judith Collins says Labour MP Trevor Mallard should step down as Speaker, because he’s lost his moral authority after incorrectly accusing a parliamentary staffer of rape.
It comes as Mallard is expected to appear in front of the Governance and Administration Select Committee today to be questioned over the inaccurate accusation.
The select committee, chaired by National MP Barbara Kuriger, is also expected to question him about the more than $333,000 of taxpayers’ money he used to settle a defamation case after he made the incorrect rape claim.
There are calls tonight for Trevor Mallard to pay it back and resign.
Collins told TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning Mallard should resign because the staffer had lost their job, reputation and livelihood after Mallard’s public accusation.
“He’s the man who actually, as Speaker, sets the standard of behaviour in Parliament,” she said.
“As far as we’re concerned in the National Party, he doesn’t have any moral authority to do so now. He needs to go.”
The ACT Party is also calling for Mallard’s resignation.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she still had confidence in Mallard as Speaker.
Trevor Mallard’s legal wrangle cost taxpayers over $300,000.
Speaking on Breakfast on Monday, Ardern conceded Mallard "has made a mistake here, no question, he has made a mistake".
But, she still believed he didn’t need to resign.
It comes after Mallard issued an apology last Tuesday for falsely accusing a parliamentary staffer of rape last year. On Friday, it was revealed Mallard had spent about $333,641.70 of taxpayers’ money to settle a defamation case after he made the incorrect rape claim.
Of that, $158,000 was an ex-gratia payment to the former staffer to settle a legal claim, $171,000 was paid in fees to Dentons Kensington Swan and $4641.70 went to Crown Law for advice to the former Deputy Speaker National MP Anne Tolley.
Mallard had refused to tell media how much his case had cost in total.
Tolley told RNZ yesterday she expected Mallard’s legal dispute would be expensive when she agreed its costs should be covered by the taxpayer.
She changed the rules last year while in her role as Deputy Speaker to give Speakers, including Mallard, access to the same legal financial support as Ministers in the instance they were challenged legally.
"It didn't seem right that there was not a similar protection for him," she said.
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