Minister’s downfall triggers premature election speculation

The media could scarcely ignore the startling story of a minister of justice under arrest, but the circumstances of that and her sudden resignation raised many other issues. Many in the media seized on one - the possible impact it could have on an election still almost three months away.The media could scarcely ignore the startling story of a Minister of Justice under arrest, but the circumstances of that and her sudden resignation raised many other issues. The media seized on one in particular - the possible impact on an election that's still almost three months away."It's all quiet on this front at the moment, but this is going to be a crazy week in politics. It's an extraordinary development," RNZ's political reporter Anneke Smith outside Parliament told Morning Report last Monday. She wasn't wrong - and the frenzy was already under way in the media. In a breakdown of how things unfolded that night, the capital's daily The Post said that word of Kiri Allan's crash and arrest spread after it happened at 9pm on Sunday. The Post said reporters "flocked to an otherwise quiet Wellington central police station" and saw someone who looked like Allan arrive about 10.45pm. "It was difficult, however, to 100 percent confirm that was the minister in the back of the police car," said The Post (leaving open the possibility that confirmation might not require certainty).Probably that was just the result of reporting in haste - and the lack of response from the prime minister's office would have been frustrating. The Post said it contacted the PM's office soon after the reports of the crash and asked for comment about 11pm. But it was not until shortly before 7am on Monday that RNZ's Morning Report told listeners the justice minister was taken into police custody. After 7am, a statement from the PM's office was rushed to air on TVNZ's Breakfast by a reporter reading it directly from her phone - and on Newstalk ZB, Mike Hosking broke the news to his listeners as "news from our 'who would want to be Chris Hipkins' file". He said the prime minister's office repeatedly refused to answer questions "and this does raise the question as to whether Allan should ever have been back at the office last week". That was a question raised by many in the media later on - though not in the same breath as actually breaking the news, as Mike Hosking did.Confirmation of her resignation as a minister in statements from the PM and Allan herself followed soon after - as well as some condemnation. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details