Why wasn't PM told about police investigation into senior press secretary Michael Forbes?

RNZ News

4 days ago

The Prime Minister's deputy chief press secretary, pictured back left, has resigned.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
The sudden resignation of one of the Prime Minister's senior press secretaries is raising questions about why Christopher Luxon's office was not told about the police investigation last year.
Michael Forbes left his job on Wednesday and has apologised after accusations he recorded audio of sessions with sex workers, and had intrusive photos of women in public and footage shot through windows at night.
Police said they got a complaint from a Wellington brothel last July after images were found on a client's phone, but decided the case did not meet the threshold for prosecution.
Michael Forbes was working for Social Development Minister Louise Upston at the time.
She and the Prime Minister's office said they knew nothing about the complaint until Tuesday night.
He resigned before he could be sacked.
Ministerial Services said it is in contact with Police and was working urgently to find out why details of the investigation were not passed on.
An advocate for the sex workers who accused Forbes said they were not surprised police did not charge him.
The Wellington co-ordinator for the NZPC Aotearoa Sex Workers' Collective, Cherida Fraser, said it would have been hard for police to prove the footage that was on the phone, showing women getting changed through a window, was filmed illegally.
"I can see that it was complex ... to identify those women would have been difficult and to ensure they weren't consenting to being filmed."
Michael Forbes has offered an apology for the harm his actions caused to women.
Photo:
LinkedIn/Michael Forbes
A Stuff investigation revealed that Forbes, a former journalist, allegedly recorded audio of multiple sessions with Wellington sex workers, and amassed a gallery of women working out at the gym, shopping and filmed through a window getting ready to go out.
A Wellington sex worker told Stuff she realised while Forbes was in the shower that his phone's voice recorder was allegedly activated back in July 2024.
She told the outlet she and other sex workers working that night asked Forbes for his phone PIN code. They claim to have found multiple audio recordings of sessions with sex workers, albums full of photos of women, and videos of women getting ready to go out, filmed through a window at night.
Forbes, who was press secretary for Minister of Social Development Louise Upston at the time, has offered an apology for the harm his actions caused to women.
"I want to offer my sincerest apologies to the women I have harmed," he said in a statement.
"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.
"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."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's deputy chief press secretary Michael Forbes shaking hands with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Photo:
Youtube/Narendra Modi
Forbes said he spent the past year "reflecting on how I may have affected these women's sense of safety and ability to go about their lives and work".
"No one should ever feel violated, unsafe, or disrespected, especially in spaces where they should feel secure, and I am truly sorry for contributing to an environment where women may have felt otherwise," he said.
"The therapy I've received over the past year has helped me to understand the roots of my behaviour and begin addressing the patterns that led to it. This is a long-term commitment to change that I take very seriously.
"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 Prime Minister is expected to address media at Parliament on Thursday. A spokesperson from his office said they were informed at 4pm on 3 June.
"The matters were immediately raised with Ministerial Services and the prime minister was informed that evening. The allegations were serious and concerning. They were discussed with the staff member on the evening of June 3 and it was clear their employment was untenable," the spokesperson said.
"It was agreed that the staff member was stood down that evening and they resigned the following morning. Had the staff member not resigned, we expect their employment would have been terminated after a short investigation."
Michael Forbes pictured during Christopher Luxon's visit to India.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
The office of Forbes' former boss Upston said: "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."
When asked by RNZ why the minister, her office, the prime minister, or the Dignitary Protection Service were not informed of the police investigation into Forbes, Ministerial Services said any questions about the investigation should go to Police.
It also did not answer whether there were any typical thresholds that would see Ministerial Services informed by police of an investigation into an employee.
Deputy secretary partnerships and commissions Hoani Lambert said this was a "serious and concerning matter" for the department.
"We were made aware of this matter late on 3 June and met with the employee that evening. The individual concerned is no longer employed by the Department. We are working with urgency to thoroughly understand what has happened. This includes further engagement with the NZ Police. As the employer, DIA has important obligations to provide a safe workplace and ensure people are held accountable for their behaviour. We are taking this matter seriously, we are moving quickly and ensuring accountability. We will not comment further at this time."
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