Minister Clare Curran resigns after creating 'unacceptable distraction' by personal email use

Friday 7th September 2018

Clare Curran has resigned as a minister, less than a week after being removed from Cabinet.

In a statement, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had accepted the resignation after Curran contacted her last night.

"Clare has come to the view the issues currently surrounding her are causing an unacceptable distraction for the government and immense pressure on her personally," Ardern said. "I agree with her assessment that resigning is the best course of action for the government and for her."

Curran requested personal leave yesterday morning and was absent from Parliament yesterday, after a poor performance in Wednesday's Question Time when she was questioned about using her personal email account for government business.

Last Friday, Ardern sacked Curran from Cabinet, stripping her of the government digital services and open government roles after she again failed to declare a meeting when answering MPs' written questions.

Ardern removed Curran from Cabinet and accepted her resignation of the government digital services and open government portfolios. At the time, Curran kept the ICT/broadcasting and associate Accident Compensation Corp portfolios as a minister outside Cabinet.

Curran's resignation means Kris Faafoi will become Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, remaining outside of Cabinet, and Peeni Henare will become Associate Minister for ACC.

(BusinessDesk)

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