Not all office relationship rumours at Parliament need to be reported to the Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins believes, saying people are often "gossiping and often making things up".
It comes as Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway was stripped of his ministerial portfolios on Wednesday over a relationship he had with a former staff member over a 12-month period.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the relationship "completely inappropriate" and said the issue "could've led to accusations of him inappropriately using his office given his role as Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety".
She subsequently dropped him from Cabinet and Lees-Galloway announced he wouldn't seek re-election in his Palmerston North electorate.
Hipkins, a Labour minister, told Magic Talk on Wednesday afternoon rumours spread often at Parliament and the vast majority of them are "just wrong".
"There are rumours that circulate around Parliament about MPs, about journalists, about ministers, about people who work in the building, and I take all of them with a grain of salt," he says.
"I think that's exactly the issue [reporting rumours to the Prime Minister]... It's just idle people gossiping and often making things up. It would be a sad day if we got to the point where we ended up with every one of these 'rumours' being treated with a degree of credibility that they don't deserve."
He says there aren't any other similar rumours he's aware of, but "goodness only knows what might happen from one day to the next".
He added he spoke briefly to Lees-Galloway on Wednesday morning and says it's a "pretty tough" time for him and his family.
Hipkins says he hasn't had a relationship with one of his staffers, but believes there are times where having a partner someone met in the workplace could be appropriate.
"I think there's a whole variety of situations that could emerge. A lot of people meet their future partners in the workplace, so it really would depend on the facts of the case and I'm not going to pass a moral judgement or a judgement on other people's situations."
