The night that ended Kiri Allan’s political career
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
It was shortly after 9pm on a cold and wet July 23 when the events that would end Justice Minister Kiri Allan’s political career unfolded.
Residents at Kio Bay, a small bay around Wellington Harbour on Evans Bay Parade, heard the smash. A small white hatchback had crashed into a large black ute, which was shunted metres forward. Allan’s white hatchback was sitting in the middle of the road.
A police statement of facts shows that Allan initially tried to move her car then walked away towards Oriental Bay, where police found her. She was given a roadside breath test which showed she was over the limit of 400 micrograms per litre of breath.
By the time The Post arrived on the scene, multiple police cars, including one with police dogs inside, were at the scene, now in Oriental Bay a few hundred metres from the crash.
The police statement shows Allan was asked to come with police for an evidential test but refused, saying she wanted to speak to her lawyer first.
“She was warned several times and provided ample opportunity to accompany the officer,” it says.
“She was also advised that a lawyer would be made available at a practical time and that this could be either in the police vehicle on the roadside or back at the police station.
“The defendant continued to refuse and was subsequently arrested.”
An evidential breath test was “eventually done”. Allan then blew 335 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath - a level that means a fine and 50 demerit points.
Details released by police under the Official Information Act, show then-police minister Ginny Andersen was notified of the incident by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster at 9.58pm.
This notification said Allan had crashed, media were aware, and she had blown over the limit.
At 10.14pm, Andersen called Coster concerned about Allan's well being and checking she was accompanied by someone when released by police.
By 10.57pm, Andersen contacted Coster to say someone would pick her up on release and take care of her.
Allan was by now in custody at Wellington Central police station before being released about 1am on the Monday.
She resigned as a minister in the early hours of Monday and then-prime minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the charges against her.
Later, Allan would speak about the evening: “It was a pretty intense evening. You make a series of decisions – I made a series of decisions,” she said.
“You regret them for a lifetime.”
“There had been some areas at work that I just couldn’t reconcile with myself, I think maybe that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but I couldn’t understand what I was doing back at work and there were so many areas of life that were unravelling.”
Long before the dramatic July scenes, allegations were swirling around her.
Allan had just spent a week on mental health leave, in relation to her personal life. When she returned to work, she faced claims from a senior public servant that she had screamed and yelled at them.
On June 28, it was reported a staffer seconded to work with Allan chose to leave early because of concerns about “working relationships” in the office.
Department of Conservation chief executive Penny Nelson took her concerns to the Department of Internal Affairs, which manages Ministerial Services.
Stuff understands other senior public servants – including from Emergency Management, and the Ministry of Business, innovation and Employment – also voiced concerns about how staff were treated.
Allan “strongly” rejected the allegations.
On June 28, Allan made an Instagram post that was immediately deleted, admitting challenging times with her mental health and rejecting the allegations about her.