From ‘the pinnacle of her game’ to a tragic fall
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Chris Hipkins summed up the Justice Minister’s tragic downfall, calling her an “incredibly talented individual who has clearly fought the devil and failed to win that battle.”
comment: It is impossible to know what was going on in the mind of Kiri Alan, who allegedly crashed into a car on Sunday night and refused to accompany police.
Mental health issues are so complex that it may take some time for Alan to frame his actions.
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On Wednesday, Allan gave a masterclass alongside Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at a press conference announcing new youth justice reforms.
She answered the subject calmly and carefully, and during her 40-minute presentation, no question was left unanswered in detail.
Alan seemed to have regained control.
If that’s who Hipkins spoke to when she returned from Europe a few days ago, it’s easy to see why she returned to work so quickly after publicly admitting she was struggling with her mental health.
Ms. Hipkins, who requested time off despite Alan’s resistance, said she received counseling and “gives me a strong indication that she is ready to take the job.”
It was only a few weeks of vacation, but during that time she continued to work on a huge portfolio while drawing attention to her attitude towards her staff.
She was also going through a very public and traumatic breakup with her fiancée.
She was clearly in a good position when Hipkins spoke to her at length about whether she was ready to return to the bear pit of Congress.
As Hipkins said Monday morning, “As you can see from last week, I had no evidence to doubt it.”
He said she was in “best shape” on Wednesday.
Allan’s goodwill continued after returning to work last week, both in press conferences and in the House, but at some point over the weekend things changed.
Allan has resigned from all cabinet posts and returned home to consider the rest of her political career, but it is difficult to understand how she would choose to return to a parliamentary-like environment.
The fact that he was criminally charged while serving as Minister of Justice will never disappear from the memory of the people.
The 10 p.m. phone call in which the Justice Minister was told he had been arrested and charged would never be forgotten in the Prime Minister’s lifetime, even if it was long.
Ms. Hipkins would have known that the decision to return her to cabinet could be wrong.
But just as it would now be unacceptable for Alan to become Minister of Justice, it would also have been unacceptable for Hipkins to dismiss her for mental health concerns.
Allan is probably not the only one in Congress who thinks so.
In retrospect, Ms. Hipkins would likely have chosen to retain her after public questions were raised about her management style in the minister’s office.
Had formal charges been filed, Hipkins would have demoted her from the cabinet, but without it he would have had to choose whether to force her down based on speculation and rumor rather than facts.
Like most people around the building, he would have heard the story, and his political radar would have told him that he would probably fight back, but he had already lost three cabinet ministers and wanted wholeheartedly to support Alan in solving the problem.
As Wednesday proved, she is a capable minister with a lot to offer, and if Hipkins honestly thought he could take it back, he was willing to take that risk.
It wasn’t a mental health breakdown that caused her to fall, but rather an act that could have harmed others when she was hit by a car and then refused to be accompanied by police officers.
They are justly judged for her actions.
Hipkins may feel his political career is doomed after Meka Waitiri’s defection and now Alan’s resignation, along with two cabinet dismissals that happened out of his control but he had to deal with.
It’s like a government in chaos.
Mr. Hipkins’ decision will be questioned over his treatment of Mr. Allan, but with less than three months until the election, the runway is running out to correct mounting public perceptions that his team is incapable of governing.
The 10 p.m. phone call in which the Justice Minister was told he had been arrested and charged would never be forgotten in the Prime Minister’s lifetime, even if it was long.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/from-the-top-of-her-game-to-tragic-downfall From ‘the pinnacle of her game’ to a tragic fall