Smith 'misled' the House: Labour

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The Labour Party has lodged a privileges complaint against ACC Minister Nick Smith accusing him of misleading Parliament.

Labour Party senior whip Darren Hughes said Dr Smith misled the House – which is against Parliament's rules – in Parliament last Thursday.

Dr Smith told the House he appeared on a select committee last week, as the new ACC board chairman John Judge was unavailable.

However, Dr Smith had been told by the Labour Department on Wednesday he had not correctly sacked outgoing board chairman Ross Wilson, Mr Hughes said.

That meant Mr Wilson was still legally chair and Mr Judge was not appointed.

"During question time on Thursday, Dr Smith referred to Mr Judge as being the chair, referred to Mr Wilson's dismissal, and said that Mr Judge could not attend because he had other business that day when in fact Mr Judge could not attend the select committee because he was not the legal chair of ACC," Mr Hughes said.

Dr Smith outraged Labour MPs by fronting at the select committee instead of letting board members do that job.

Dr Smith was planning to further "reconfigure" the board, saying it needed to be better equipped to handle ACC's serious financial situation.

"We now suspect that the reason he turned up to the select committee on Thursday morning was that he knew that he'd stuffed up the dismissal and that would have come out," Mr Hughes said.

Labour was unhappy with the "dodgy" way the Government was running the ACC debate and the party felt it had to challenge him when he made misleading comments.

The letter had been sent to Speaker Lockwood Smith who will decide whether the matter should be taken further.

Prime Minister John Key yesterday defended Dr Smith's decision to front for the board at the select committee.

Mr Key also said the incorrect process for sacking Mr Wilson was a "technical error".

"Despite the fact that there was a technical error, the legal advice he received was that it was of no material effect on the termination of Mr Wilson's position as chairman of ACC, but for good order a new letter was sent," Mr Key said.

A spokesman for Dr Smith said a response had been sent to the Speaker.

- NZPA