Labour President Nigel Haworth has resigned over his handling of sexual assault allegations. Haworth offered his resignation to Ardern after she read correspondence to the party confirming that the complaints were very serious. Ardern made her displeasure with Haworth clear, saying “mistakes were made”.
Haworth issued a statement on Tuesday claiming a 19-year-old woman did not tell him she was sexually assaulted by a Labour staffer, when they met in August 2018. He also said the accusation was also not provided to a panel established to investigate the man’s conduct.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly said she was not told the allegations were of a sexual nature.
The PM and Haworth’s official statements
Earlier Ardern issued a statement saying: “In the last 48 hours I have read incredibly distressing reports of an alleged sexual assault involving members of the Labour Party.”
On Wednesday morning she was given some of the correspondence from complainants that had been written to the party several months ago. It confirmed that the allegations made were extremely serious and that the process caused complainants additional distress, she said.
“And that ultimately, in my view, the party was never equipped to appropriately deal with the issue. “I discussed the correspondence with the Labour Party President this morning. Whilst he stands by the statements he has made on this matter I believe mistakes were made.”
Raising an allegation of sexual assault was an incredibly difficult thing to do and for additional distress to be caused through the way the allegations are handled is incredibly upsetting, she said.
“On behalf of the Labour Party, I apologise to the complainants for the way this matter has been dealt with.” “I have made it clear that I want the QC led appeal process to resolve this matter. I also want to assure myself that appropriate victim support and advocacy have been put in place around the complainants and ensure the terms of reference in the appeal covers the entirety of the process.
She would be happy to meet with complainants and would take steps to make that offer available to them if they wish to take it up, she said. “I want a justice system in New Zealand where people feel comfortable coming forward and are listened to, but I also need to ensure the Labour Party lives up to that expectation too,” Ardern said.
In a statement, Haworth said he would be resigning, effective immediately.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that regardless of the outcome of the appeal process into complaints about a Party member, fresh leadership will be required to take forward any recommendations from that process. I have greatly enjoyed my time as president and will continue in my lifelong support of Labour and its principles.”
Source: Stuff Featured Image- Stuff / Nigel Haworth has been Labour Party president since 2015.
