National leader Christopher Luxon says Kiri Allan should focus on fighting crime after revelations she made comments critical of RNZ.
Justice Minister Allan has apologised for the comments she made at her partner's farewell from the state broadcaster.
Allan criticised RNZ's culture and treatment of Māori staff, with some claiming it was another breach of the Cabinet manual by a Labour MP.
Luxon said the situation was frustrating.
"Here we go again discussing another Labour Government personnel issue rather than the big challenges or the big problems that New Zealand's facing."
Speaking to AM, Luxon said National wanted Allan "focused on fighting crime, not on a pining about Radio New Zealand".
"The last few weeks it's been Rob Campbell, it's been Steve Maharey, it's been Ruth Dyson, it's been Stuart Nash, it's been Marama Davidson - now it's Kiri Allan… a massive distraction for this Government."
Luxon accused the Government of becoming "arrogant and entitled".
"It needs to focus on the things that New Zealanders care about," he added.
Asked by AM host Ryan Bridge if Allan's behaviour specifically was arrogant, Luxon said: "With respect to Kiri, she's come out and she's apologised for her remarks, that's good - I want her to focus on fighting crime. That's what her job is.
"With respect to the Cabinet manual, it's really clear - you hold the position 24/7 and you conduct your affairs always professionally, and you make sure you don't interfere with operational issues of respective organisations.
"We've got big issues in this country, we need to face up to them but we never get to talk about the problems and how we're going to solve them because we end up getting distracted, over the last few weeks, on this stuff," said Luxon.
He pledged, if elected, to "read the riot act" on the Cabinet manual to his prospective ministers.
"They need to know this stuff - and not just read it but they need to understand and internalise the responsibility that they have."
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said in a statement the broadcaster "welcomes kaimahi into the organisation with either a mihi whakatau or a pōwhiri" - but did not directly speak to Allan's criticism.
