Michael Wood says he wasn't aware he had been told 12 times by the Cabinet Office to divest his Auckland Airport shares - and instead thought it was eight times.
Going into Question Time on Wednesday afternoon, reporters repeatedly asked him why he hadn't sold the shares despite it being raised by the Cabinet Office on six occasions.
The understanding that the minister had been asked six times came from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Tuesday saying the Cabinet Office had asked him about it around "half a dozen" times. Wood didn't make it clear he had actually been asked more times.
Minutes later, Hipkins went on to say during Question Time that the Cabinet Office had asked Wood 12 times whether he had divested his shares and Wood had told officials repeatedly that he was about to or was in the process of doing so.
After Question Time, Wood was asked why he didn't tell reporters it had been 12 times earlier.
"I wasn't aware of that at that time… I had been advised it was eight times and that's the answer I have provided… We have had to go back and check records for this and that was the information I had."
He was then asked why he thought it was eight times, when the Prime Minister said it was 12 times and had listed the 12 dates.
"The team in my office have gone back. Obviously, I don't have a running total in my head of these things. The team in my office have gone back over the period of the last couple of years to pull down the information. That was the information I was provided with.
"Look, I am not going to quibble about this. I was given that advice by the Cabinet Office. I should have followed that through more urgently. I didn't. To some degree, whether it was number A or number B, I don't think it makes a huge difference."
Wood said he didn't feel good about the situation with the shares.
"It's been a very difficult exercise for me, but I take responsibility for it."
It emerged on Tuesday that Wood initially failed to declare with Parliament's pecuniary interest register that he held about $13,000 worth of shares in Auckland Airport. He eventually declared these appropriately last year, but didn't correct previous registers.
Wood said he did inform the Cabinet Office of the shares when he became a minister. But the Cabinet Office was also told Wood was going to sell the shares, which hasn't happened, something the Prime Minister has said should have happened.
Wood was stood down as Transport Minister on Tuesday while he resolves the conflict and has accepted he made errors.
He said he did start the process of selling the shares, but life admin got in the way of him following up with a broker whether the shares had been sold.
Wood has said he previously had a "hitch" with selling the shares. While in the process of doing so, which he began in February last year, he was meant to get information back from the share register but that didn't arrive because they had an old email address.
"I acknowledge the faults. I should have followed up on that and I didn't. That is why I am in this situation," he told reporters.
"This is something I lost sight of. I have a very large job. I work 80 to 90-hour weeks. Some of these things in my life administration, I have let slip. I shouldn't have."
He denied that him holding shares had any impact on any decisions he has made as a minister.
In Parliament, Hipkins said Wood was asked by the Cabinet Office about whether he had divested the shares on "the 19th of November, 2020; 9th and 14th of December, 2020; 24th of March, 2021; 30 June, 2021; 17 December, 2021; 1st of March, 2022; 28th of March, 2022; 4th of May, 2022; 16th of January 2023; 6th of March, 2023 and 27th of March, 2023".
He would go on to say: "By my count… there were 12 interactions."
National leader Christopher Luxon said the Government was too focused on personnel issues after the Stuart Nash, Kiri Allan, Meka Whaitiri, Jan Tinetti and, now, Wood dramas.
"It's losing the plot and it's out of touch with what matters most to New Zealanders," he said.
ACT leader David Seymour said Wood should be sacked altogether.
