[ad_1]
Former Vice President Anne Tolley expected President Trevor Mallard’s legal dispute to be costly when she agreed to let taxpayers pay the bill.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
There are calls tonight for Trevor Mallard to return it and resign. Source: 1 NEWS
By Katie Scotcher of rnz.co.nz
More than $ 300,000 from the public purse was spent on defamation proceedings after President Trevor Mallard wrongly claimed that an accused rapist was working on the premises of Parliament.
Mallard publicly apologized last week for his comments, but both National and ACT stated that they had lost confidence in the speaker and called for his resignation.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Mallard’s comments were a mistake, but that she should remain in her role as spokesperson.
National has also called him to appear before a select committee tomorrow to question him about the legal proceedings and the money spent on them.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
Mallard settled a defamation case, in which taxpayers paid the bill, after he falsely accused a parliamentary worker of being a rapist. Source: 1 NEWS
The party has claimed that a rule change was used last year to benefit the speaker.
Tolley, a former national congresswoman, changed the rules last year while she was vice president so that speakers, including Mallard, would have access to the same legal financial support as ministers.
He later approved the use of taxpayer money to cover Mallard’s legal bill.
Tolley told RNZ that Mallard made the comments as a speaker and had no protection when legal action was taken against him.
Then there was a discussion on whether the speaker should qualify for legal financial support since he was “essentially the minister of Parliamentary Services, he is responsible for the management of Parliament.”
“It didn’t seem right that there wasn’t similar protection for him,” he told RNZ.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
The Trevor Mallard legal dispute cost taxpayers more than $ 300,000. Source: 1 NEWS
Tolley then received advice from various people, including the attorney general, and went on to develop a process similar to that for ministers; the only difference is that the vice president has to sign the financial support instead of the attorney general.
“I was surprised, in fact, that [qualify for legal financial support] so we set up a system by which they did it, “Tolley told RNZ.
Before approving Mallard’s case, Tolley said he received advice from Crown Law outlining approximately how much it would cost the taxpayer.
“Because it was nearing the end of the parliamentary term, the suggestion was that if it was within that envelope that Crown Law considered reasonable for it to be resolved, and I signed it.
“It didn’t have an exact amount, but it had a variety of costs.”
Tolley couldn’t remember the exact range of costs they gave him, but said the final legal bill of $ 333,000 was included.
Former National MP Anne Tolley. Source: 1 NEWS
When asked by RNZ if, in hindsight, she was happy with her decision to approve spending taxpayers’ money in defamation proceedings, Tolley said she felt comfortable and that it was appropriate.
“The decision I made was to launch a process that would give the president of Parliament the same protections as a cabinet minister.
“The question of the successes or errors of any of the actions is a completely different question and you can only get advice on that from Crown Law.”
As vice president, Tolley said she established a process that would protect all speakers in Parliament.
“At some point, National will be in government and they’ll have a speaker. We’re a much more litigious community these days, so it’s very possible that National’s speaker will get into trouble.
He declined to comment when asked about National’s criticism of the president and the cost of defamation proceedings to the taxpayer, but said legal proceedings are often very expensive.
