The inquiry was started after a letter from National’s Chris Penk.
“The Registrar has conducted a preliminary review of Chris Penk MP’s request to determine whether an inquiry is warranted. The Registrar noted that Hon Michael Wood had, in recent days, made a number of public statements, including in the House of Representatives, in relation to the need to amend previous returns under the Register,” a statement from the registrar said.
”The Registrar’s preliminary review also took account of the degree of importance of the matter under inquiry; whether the matter may involve a breach of the obligations to make a return; and whether the matter is technical or trivial.
”Having conducted a preliminary review of the request, the Registrar has determined that an inquiry is warranted.”
Today’s development follows Wood having to defend another instance of not giving the whole picture of his shareholding today, after revelations he told the Newsroom Pro website he had no further interests to declare - when in fact he should have declared his Auckland Airport and Contact Energy shares.
The newsletter this morning revealed Wood was asked whether he had any interests to declare beyond those disclosed in the 2021 register after Wood was named as one of the MPs who was late to declare their pecuniary interests.
“What pecuniary interests, I asked the minister, did he have beyond those disclosed in the 2021 register of interests? “None,” Michael Wood replied, unequivocally,” wrote Newsroom Pro’s editor, Jonathan Milne in the email.
Wood’s response to the query came six days after he was delivered his fifth reminder by the Cabinet Office to divest himself of the shares.
The Government is sticking by Wood, with the thinking being that at that time Wood believed the shares were held in a family trust which was declared. The shares were not held in a trust.
Deputy National leader Nicola Willis said the latest revelation was “yet another straw on the camel’s back”.
“The reality is that Michael Wood has now misled not only Cabinet office but also the pecuniary interest registrar and a journalist. This is now about whether or not he can be trusted. How can the Prime Minister possibly trust him?,” Willis said.
Wood was suspended from his transport portfolio on Tuesday following revelations in the Herald he held $13,000 worth of shares in Auckland Airport which he failed to properly declare.
He still holds the Immigration, Auckland, and Workplace Relations portfolios and has kept his seat around the Cabinet table.
The fact Wood has only been suspended and not sacked completely means there is still a way back to his old portfolio, although not any time soon - the prime minister would not say whether Wood would get transport back before the election.
Willis said Wood needs to be sacked today.
“The plot has thickened and thickened, more and more relations keep coming out. What we know is that Minister Michael Wood has not only had a muck up here, he’s been actively misleading people about it,” Willis said.
“If [Hipkins] doesn’t sack him today, he is lowering the standard of conduct expected of ministers in New Zealand in a way that will be damaging, not just to him personally but to the perception of our government and its ethics,” she said.
“It is wrong for ministers to conduct themselves this way, the Prime Minister must set a standard he must be strong, he must act,” she said.
