New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was today thrown into the biggest crisis since she took office as a top ally resigned over her party’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.
The centre-Left leader apologised and admitted “mistakes were made” after a Labour Party volunteer last year accused a senior party staffer who worked in the PM's office of assault.
“Raising an allegation of sexual assault is an incredibly difficult thing to do — for additional distress to be caused through the way these allegations are handled is incredibly distressing,” Ms Ardern said in a statement.
The 19-year-old woman alleges the staffer sexually assaulted her at his home in February last year and she reported it to Labour Party president Nigel Haworth last October.
An internal party investigation recommended no action against the man. Yesterday, Mr Haworth argued the complainant did not inform him about the seriousness of the allegations.
The woman, who has not been publicly named, disputed this, providing media with emails and documents she said supported her version of events.
Ms Ardern said she discussed the woman’s documents with Mr Haworth this morning. She said she never knew about the nature of the complaints, however she has been facing growing pressure over contradictory statements about when she found out they involved sexual allegations.
In a separate statement, Labour said that Mr Haworth had resigned.
A barrister has been appointed to review Labour’s handling of the case.
