The Prime Minister is not standing down any of her MPs accused of bullying because she says she's seen nothing to substantiate the claims.
Several Labour MPs are currently facing bullying accusations after backbencher Dr Gaurav Sharma launched a stunning broadside against his Party last week.
Sharma made a myriad of accusations first in an opinion piece for the NZ Herald and then in an explosive follow-up social media post. In the opinion piece, Sharma accused Parliamentary Service of promoting and facilitating bullying, including between MPs, "by working behind the scenes" with party Whips offices, leaders' offices and the Prime Minister's Office.
Sharma went on to single out Chief Government whip Kieran McAnulty in his social media post, accusing him of being "the main bully". He also hit out at junior whip Duncan Webb.
Labour has disputed the claims, instead revealing Sharma was actually facing complaints from his own staff.
The allegations prompted a senior parliamentary staffer to come forward and accuse another Labour MP, Anna Lorck, of bullying.
Speaking with AM's Melissa Chan-Green on Monday Jacinda Ardern said none of the MPs accused of bullying would be stood down.
Ardern said the bullying allegations were prompted by intervention over complaints against Sharma from his own staff.
"This comes back to the fact that there were accusations made by staff members around the conduct of an MP [Sharma]. Rightly, the whips and Parliamentary Services intervened because this was not just one case there was more than one case, so it gave them grounds for intervention.
"The MP [Sharma] has not agreed with those interventions. I have seen nothing to substantiate the claims that have been made against these MPs in the way they have intervened," Ardern said.
When asked whether the reason she hasn't seen any proof is because there hasn't been a review, Ardern said she has gone through "the documentation that exists around these issues".
"As you can imagine there's timelines and notes and annotations taken of all these interactions, this has been going on for some time."
Ardern said the allegations about Lorck's behaviour are being investigated through the "proper" channels.
The Prime Minister then went on to criticise Sharma for not raising the issues directly with her before conceding he spoke with one of her staff members in December.
She said a resolution was reached last year and she didn't hear anything else until the NZ Herald article was published last week
Ardern also revealed multiple complaints have been raised by Sharma's staff which prompted the whips and Parliamentary Services to get involved.
"Ultimately what gave rise to Guarav raising issues is that we identified, because staff raised it, issues with his management within his office and interventions were made by the whips and Parliamentary Services - which he disagreed with," Ardern claimed.
"That is actually the very reason this occurred in the first place because we do work very hard to ensure we have a good working environment with those who are here in Parliament."
The Prime Minister said there is more than one employment issue related to Sharma's office. According to the NZ Herald, three staff members have complained about the MP. But he's got support from his Hamilton West electorate committee which has written a letter to Labour's caucus describing Sharma as "incredibly conscientious".
Sharma's allegations came after the National Party was forced to stand down Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell after a slew of unsavoury accusations from his past emerged.
Last Monday it was revealed Uffindell was asked to leave Auckland's prestigious King's College more than 20 years ago after he violently attacked a younger student.
Then on Wednesday a former flatmate accused the MP of bullying and being verbally aggressive while she lived with him in 2003.
Uffindell denied bullying the woman or being aggressive but he was stood down pending an investigation.
