Labour morale is "good" despite the party suffering from a volatile week in the Beehive, Cabinet minister Ginny Andersen says.
On Thursday, Education Minister Jan Tinetti appeared before the powerful Privileges Committee over a delay in correcting an accurate statement made to Parliament.
Earlier in the week, Chris Hipkins stood Michael Wood down as the Transport Minister. That came after revelations Wood had earlier failed to declare his shares in Auckland Airport.
It was then revealed Wood was asked 12 times by the Cabinet office about selling the shares - but didn't.
Labour, the governing party, is seeking a third term at October's election but Hipkins' momentum has likely been slowed by the ministerial misdemeanours, according to commentators.
Peter Dunne, one of New Zealand's longest-serving MPs, said in his blog Hipkins "looks less and less a determined Prime Minister leading his country through a cost-of-living crisis than one trying desperately to plaster over cracks in a disintegrating Government".
Dunne, who was in Labour between 1984 and 1994, believed morale amongst the party's MPs would be dropping.
"They'll be starting to get feedback from constituents - they'll be starting to have their morale dashed a little bit," he told AM Early on Thursday.
But that's not the case, according to Andersen.
"I think morale is good - it's not helpful, I'll be honest but... [Wood's] shares are now sold," she said on AM's political panel.
"We're ready to move on."
Andersen also defended Tinetti, saying it's been a "tough time" but "Jan is a good friend of mine and I trust her".
But both the Wood and Tinetti debacles would've put a strain on Labour, Dunne believed.
"The more Hipkins is forced to defend the lax conduct of ministers who do not seem to know the rules of their jobs, the more he will be dragged down with them," Dunne wrote in his blog.
Hipkins said Wood was "a hardworking, diligent, conscientious person" and said he couldn't "quite understand what has happened here".
On Tinetti, Hipkins accepted "her at her word that she didn't intend to mislead Parliament".
Hipkins had not yet made further decisions about whether Wood will return to the Transport Minister role, with Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests registrar Sir Maarten Wevers now probing the matter.
