Labour leader Phil Goff is expected to announce today a caucus reshuffle that will see the demotion of at least two of his MPs.Mr Goff returned yesterday from a trip to China and was immediately involved in the scandal around the credit card spending of s
Labour leader Phil Goff is expected to announce today a caucus reshuffle that will see the demotion of at least two of his MPs.
Mr Goff returned yesterday from a trip to China and was immediately involved in the scandal around the credit card spending of some of Labour's former ministers.
He is understood to have spoken to Shane Jones and Chris Carter, two of the main culprits, and is likely to announce his decisions around noon today.
A third MP, Mita Ririnui, could also be disciplined.
Party sources told NZPA last night Mr Goff was "very disappointed and angry".
Mr Jones has taken most of the fallout because he used his ministerial credit card to pay for dozens of pornographic movies while he stayed at hotels when he was building and construction minister in the previous government.
But Mr Carter racked up huge bills when he went overseas on numerous trips, although he held largely domestic portfolios like education.
Mr Ririnui bought a bike and a set of golf clubs with his card and paid back the money, but there are explicit rules against that.
Mr Goff's reshuffle of portfolio responsibilities could also give him a chance to promote some of the talented MPs who came in at the last election, like Grant Robertson, Jacinda Ardern and Phil Twyford.
Mr Goff could have waited for tomorrow's caucus meeting before announcing his decisions but he wants to move quickly to deal with the bad publicity that is still swirling around his MPs.
Action against Mr Carter could see the MP quit Parliament.
He told the Herald on Sunday he was asking himself whether he wanted to keep on putting up with the accusations being made against him.
"I love being an MP but there might well be a point soon where I think this is just not worth it," he said.
Mr Goff was met by Labour's deputy leader, Annette King, when he flew into Auckland yesterday.
He held talks with Ms King and other senior Labour MPs before speaking to Mr Jones and Mr Carter.
Mr Goff told reporters he wasn't going to judge Mr Jones by what he did in the privacy of his own room.
"That's not the issue. The issue is expenditure of government money," he said.
