Senior aide to New Zealand prime minister resigns over secret recordings of sex workers

Independent

2 days ago

A senior aide to New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon has resigned after being accused of secretly recording sex workers and taking non-consensual photos and videos of women.
The allegations against Michael Forbes surfaced when a sex worker discovered his phone was recording audio while he was in the shower, NZ 's Stuff reported earlier this week. Mr Luxon's deputy chief press secretary has since offered his 'sincerest apologies to the women I have harmed'.
PM Luxon called the revelations a 'shock' and said that Mr Forbes' behaviour was 'unacceptably short of the standards that I expect from our people'.
'My sympathy is with the women who raised these allegations and were made to feel unsafe due to the actions of this person,' Mr Luxon said on Thursday.
According to Stuff, Mr Forbes' encounter with the sex worker took place in July 2024. After being confronted about the secret audio recording, he reportedly handed over his phone password. The woman, along with other sex workers from that brothel, discovered numerous audio recordings of similar sessions, along with photos and videos on the device.
At the time, Mr Forbes was serving as press secretary to social development minister Louise Upston. He was appointed acting deputy chief press secretary to the prime minister in February this year.
Police reportedly looked into the allegations in July last year but ultimately chose not to pursue charges.
Mr Luxon said: 'We had no awareness, no knowledge of it. The concerns were raised with us by a journalist at four o'clock on Tuesday,' he said. The prime minister said that the police investigation was not disclosed to Mr Forbes' employer under the 'no surprises' convention, nor did Mr Forbes disclose the allegations himself.
'He was vetted coming into Louise Upston's office. As I understand it, the incidents happened subsequent to that,' he said.
'He has an obligation to actually declare those issues or those incidences to us. That didn't happen, which is why his employment would have been terminated.'
In a statement to RNZ on Thursday, detective inspector John Van Den Heuvel from Wellington police said that 'on examining the phones, police also found a number of photos and video of women in public spaces, and what appears to be women in private addresses, taken from a distance away'.
'Police considered the available evidence and concluded it did not meet the requirements for criminality, and therefore charges could not be filed.
'The individual concerned voluntarily spoke with police and admitted to taking the images and recordings. He was reminded of the inappropriateness of his behaviour and encouraged to seek help.'
Meanwhile, the prime minister said: 'When you have an incident like this, it actually creates a whole bunch of new questions.'
He added: 'They need to do a deep dive on understanding how and what happened here and why. And importantly, then look at what we need to do to strengthen our processes.'
In a statement, Mr Forbes said on Wednesday: 'In the past, I was in a downward spiral due to unresolved trauma and stress, and when confronted with the impacts of my behaviour a year ago, I sought professional help, which is something I wish I had done much earlier.'
He said: 'What I failed to do then was make a genuine attempt to apologise. Instead, I tried to move on without offering those I had harmed the acknowledgement, accountability, or amends they deserved. I recognise how wrong that was.'
'I understand that my past actions may have undermined the trust people place in me. So, I have resigned from my job to focus on the work I need to do.'
The office of Mr Forbes' former boss Mr Upston said in a statement: 'The minister was not aware of any allegations before they were raised with PMO yesterday. Minister Upston has nothing further to add to the PMs statement on this.'