Justice Minister Kiri Allan has stepped down from all of her portfolios effective immediately after being charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer.
Those charges were laid after Allan was involved in a car crash on Wellington's Evans Bay Parade shortly after 9pm on Sunday.
Allan also returned a breath test over the legal alcohol limit but "at a level considered an infringement offence", Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said. As a result, charges were not laid in relation to that.
Allan said in a statement she has faced a number of personal difficulties over recent weeks and her behaviour on Sunday means her position as a Minister is untenable.
"I'm very sorry for my actions, the harm they could have caused and the embarrassment it has placed on the Government and my colleagues," she said.
Below is a timeline of her career:
Early career
Allan enrolled at Victoria University in Wellington at age 19, where she studied law and politics.
While she was in university, she interned in the Beehive for then-Prime Minister Helen Clark during her first year of study.
Following the completion of her law degree, Allan became a judge's clerk for a period before completing several roles at different law firms.
Elected Minister
Allan's political career began in 2017 when she made the decision to stand for Labour as its candidate for the East Coast electorate.
She came second to Natonal's Anne Tolley - who had held the seat since 2005 - and was placed 21st on the party list after Labour won the 2017 election.
Allan held various roles during New Zealand's 52nd Parliament (2017-2020), where she was a junior whip, a member of the various Select Committees and chair of Labour's rural caucus.
Following the retirement of Tolley in 2020, it left the East Coast electorate seat open, which Allan claimed with open hands and won by over 15 percent in Labour's landslide election victory in 2020.
Her second term of Parliament is when Allan came to the fore. She was announced as Minister for Conservation and Minister for Emergency Management as well as associate ministerial portfolios for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Environment.
Her first big moment as a Minister came on March 5, 2021 when she led New Zealanders through a tsunami alert and massive evacuation.
The day before, the Kermadec Islands - north-east of New Zealand - was rocked by a shallow 8.1 earthquake, which saw National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issue a tsunami warning.
On the same day, Allan had an ultrasound which found a 3cm growth, which at that stage was thought to be benign.
Health Problems
But a month later, on April 6, 2021, she revealed in a Facebook post she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer and would be taking medical leave from Parliament.
After revealing her cancer diagnosis, Allan said she is facing the fight of her life.
Her colleagues were quick to marvel at Allan's courage and commitment to her role following her cancer diagnosis.
"She was dealing with that level of uncertainty around a diagnosis and yet there she was, on the podium helping to lead the country through a really dramatic civil defence moment. It was remarkable, but she is remarkable," Ardern said at the time.
Then Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi said Allan was both a "force of nature" and "bit of a superwoman" for dealing with her health issues on the day of the quakes and tsunami.
A month later, Allan revealed she had a 13 percent chance of surviving cervical cancer.
"When I got told that I had cervical cancer, they said for somebody with stage 3C you have a 40 percent chance of survival. As a wāhine Māori, I have about a 13.3 percent chance of survival," she said.
But seven months later, Allan said she was cancer-free, with her first scan after treatment coming back clear of cancer.
"I can't describe what we are feeling right now, and I'll be honest, I was preparing for a different kind of phone call today," she wrote in an emotional Instagram post.
Allan used her diagnosis to raise awareness about the importance of regular pap smears and the inequality in New Zealand's health care which means Māori women are three times more likely to die from cervical cancer.
2023 - a year to forget
Two years on from her cancer scare, Allan was again making headlines - this for the wrong reason.
2023 will be a year Allan will not look back fondly on, after a series of scandals that ended with her resignation as a minister.
It all started in March when RNZ hosted a farewell event for Allan's then-fiancée, Māni Dunlop, who was leaving the organisation. During the event, Allan criticised RNZ's culture and treatment of Māori staff.
Allan later apologised for these comments saying she accepts there is "not such a delineation in terms of public perception" and also that it could have been interpreted as "me telling RNZ how to manage their staff or company".
Just a month later, it was revealed then Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon had donated thousands of dollars to Allan in the lead-up to the 2020 General Election, which the MP hadn't declared.
Two months later at the end of June, a public servant with years of experience told Stuff Allan "yelled and screamed" at her during a phone call and was so loud staff in the office could hear her. Allan has "strongly" rejected the accusations.
Those allegations came after the Department of Conservation confirmed a staffer seconded to Allan's office chose to leave amid concerns about working relationships there more than a year ago.
This saw Allan take time off for mental health reasons before returning to work to respond to the allegations, which she rejected and added no formal complaints had been made.
Everything came to a head on Monday morning when it was revealed Allan stepped down from all of her portfolios effective immediately after being charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer following a car crash in Wellington on Sunday evening.
Allan also returned a breath test over the legal alcohol limit but "at a level considered an infringement offence", Hipkins said. As a result, charges were not laid in relation to that.
