Fighting for his political career

Michael Wood faces his third day of intense scrutiny and criticism over $13,000 worth of Auckland International Airport shares.

❚ Transport Minister stood down over Auckland Airport shares

❚ Minister didn’t properly declare the shares

❚ Cabinet Office asked 12 times about sale

❚ Opposition calls for resignation

Stood-down Transport Minister Michael Wood is in a fight for his political life, but his story about why he failed to sell his shares in Auckland International Airport has only become more puzzling.

Opposition leaders are making hay with his admission, implying it shaped his decision-making as a minister and denouncing his management of conflicts of interest.

Wood vehemently denies this and has given a number of contributing factors for what he described as an oversight. These include the claim that he works 90-hour weeks, and that he erroneously thought the shares – worth about $13,000 and that he says he bought as a teen – had been sold.

On top of this, the aspersions cast by the Opposition lack a critical component: a motive. There is no evidence – or suggestion – he benefited from keeping the shares.

Still, it doesn’t quite stack up, Richard Shaw, a political professor at Massey University, says.

The saga also doesn’t quite fit with Wood’s brand as a detailsoriented, diligent minister, and raises questions about the quality of information he is getting from his staff.

Wood yesterday said that Cabinet office had asked him six times to sell the shares, but by yesterday afternoon Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in the House revealed he had been asked a total of 12 times in 21⁄ years. 2

‘‘If there is one or two more of those changes in the story, you can just see the PM losing patience and drawing a line under it by removing him,’’ Shaw said.

‘‘There is enough carelessness to place his career in the current parliamentary term at risk.’’

The saga also lands at a time when Hipkins is already preparing for a series of negative headlines.

The Cabinet Office’s investigation into Stuart Nash’s communication with donors is due back in the next few weeks, while Education Minister Jan Tinetti is due in front of the privileges committee over Parliamentary disclosures about attendance data today.

Wood is facing his third day of intense criticism and scrutiny from the Opposition, who have called for his resignation.

National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis and ACT Party leader David Seymour have sought to link his shareholding – worth only $13,000 – with his decision to decline the North Shore Aero Club Airport Authority status when it applied in 2020. Wood has said it was because of advice from officials, and feedback from residents.

Wood said he declared all of his shares with the Cabinet office in 2020, and was asked to sell them. He thought he had set that process in motion, and by 2021 thought they had been sold. In his 2022 return, he realised they weren’t, and put them on his return. He should have acted sooner, he said.

Grant Duncan, an associate professor at Massey University, said there was some ‘‘red meat’’ to the issue but that it wasn’t a major problem.

‘‘It’s not like he has made some pecuniary gain, neither has his wife,’’ he said.

‘‘He said he had too many other things to do, which is saying it wasn’t a priority – that actually looks even worse.’’