Prime Minister Helen Clark says the two Ministers at the centre of the investigations over accommodation allowances have resigned their ministerial duties, and she is not promising to reinstate them even if they are cleared of wrongdoing.
Alliance MP and Customs Minister Phillida Bunkle and Labour MP and Environment Minister Marion Hobbs have sent Clark letters of resignation and their ministerial warrants have been removed.
Clark will not say whether the two former ministers will be reappointed if cleared by the Audit Office and electoral inquiries.
She says the situation will be reviewed after those inquiries are completed.
The PM is taking a very different approach to her stance at the time of the sacking of former Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels, when she initially maintained Samuels would be given his portfolio back if he was cleared.
The former Minister for Disability Issues, Associate Minister of Accident Insurance and Health and Social Services and Employment Ruth Dyson is another who has left under a cloud - resigning after her arrest on a charge of drunk driving.
Earlier it was reported that Bunkle and Hobbs would step aside until Audit Office and electoral investigations are complete.
Their standing down was reported to be negotiated under the Prime Minister's instructions by her chief of staff and the Alliance chief of staff.
Clark says the pair asked to stand down while official investigations are completed.
The Registrar of Electors is looking into their enrolments as Wellington Central voters before the last election, while the Auditor General investigates the Parliamentary accommodation allowances they received.
Furthermore, she says the sustained pressure over the accommodation allowances had made it impossible for them to carry out their Ministerial duties.
Bunkle says she offered her Ministerial resignation after receiving a letter from the Registrar of Electors this week requesting further information about her enrolment.
Bunkle says this was the first time that there had been any official uncertainty expressed about her position.
She says for that reason she wrote to her party leader, Jim Anderton, on Wednesday offering to stand down until all inquiries into her accommodation allowances are completed.
Hobbs says it was appropriate to offer her resignation to the Prime Minister, but says she is confident inquiries into her accommodation allowance will show she has done nothing wrong.
PM advised pair to resign
Clark has confirmed that she advised the two Ministers to resign.
She says she had confidence in their work as Ministers, but the Registrar of Electors has decided there is a prima face case to answer, and the stress has become too much for the pair.
Clark says discussions were held this week, and her advice was to resign
Ministerial duties reassigned
Clark says she has now reassigned the ministerial duties of Bunkle and Hobbs.
She says Deputy Prime Minister and Alliance leader Jim Anderton is taking over the Consumer Affairs and Customs portfolios from Bunkle, while Hobbs' portfolios are re-assigned to four different Ministers.
Pete Hodgson takes over the Environment portfolio; Jim Sutton has been given Biosecurity; Steve Maharey has been assigned Broadcasting; and Judith Tizard takes responsibility for the National Archives and National Library.
Background to the accommodation scandal
This week the Electoral Enrolment Centre acted on advice from the Crown Law Office, which found there are questions to be answered about the MPs' right to be enrolled in Wellington Central.
The Audit Office announced it would extend its investigation into the accommodation allowance system to consider the specific cases of Hobbs and Bunkle.
National leader Jenny Shipley says pressure from the Opposition forced the resignations from the pair's Ministerial duties.
Shipley says the resignations are a victory for the Opposition's pursuit of the accomodation allowance issue.
