Jacinda Ardern should make Trevor Mallard pay the price for his costly 'mistake' | Claire Robinson

Last week it was revealed that more than $300,000 from the public purse was spent in defamation proceedings after the speaker of the New Zealand parliament, Trevor Mallard, wrongly accused a former parliamentary staffer of being a rapist. On Wednesday Mallard fronted up to parliament's governance and administration committee and apologised to the house and all New Zealanders for his mistake", a word he used three times in the first 90 seconds of the hearing.

Reading from a prepared statement, Mallard acknowledged his mistake was in saying that the allegations against the individual, in the context of the 2019 Francis review into bullying and harassment of staff at parliament, amounted to rape, that his understanding of the definition of rape at that time was incorrect and that the alleged conduct did not amount to rape.