Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says ACC and Pharmac chairman Steve Maharey had offered to resign over columns he wrote criticising the National Party, but she was waiting for advice before deciding whether to take action.

Verrall fronted the media for the first time today over her sacking of Rob Campbell as chair of Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand over social media comments he made about the National Party.

In the wake of that sacking, Maharey - a former Labour MP and Cabinet minister - had approached ministers about the content of his own columns for Stuff.

After repeated questioning, Verrall confirmed Maharey had offered to resign his dual chairman roles as part of the discussions.

However, she said his was a different situation to Campbell’s and she was awaiting further advice from the Public Service Commission on the issue.

Verrall’s version differed to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who said that Maharey had not offered to resign. However, he said Maharey had said he would step down if asked to.

Hipkins said while Maharey had not offered to resign to him, it was possible he had done so to Verrall. He was not aware of what conversations Maharey had with other ministers, but he had been in touch with Hipkins’ office.

“He indicated that if his resignation was requested that he would offer it. I would not ask for his resignation in these circumstances. He’s made a mistake, he’s apologised for it,” Hipkins said.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon said Maharey should “absolutely” resign and it was a mistake by Hipkins not to accept the resignation.

“The only difference here is that he’s Chris Hipkins’ former boss. So there’s a relationship there,” Luxon said.

“It’s the same principle we talked about with Rob Campbell. In New Zealand we want to have an impartial public service. It’s really important. We don’t believe in an American, politicised public service where we make appointments each time under each successive government.”

He pointed to other former politicians with public sector roles such as Phil Goff, now New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Simon Power - the chief executive of TVNZ - and Annette King, the High Commissioner to Australia, saying they did not air their political views

Asked why the Government had not raised a flag with Maharey over his columns earlier, Hipkins said “it’s quite possible that nobody relevant noticed them”.

He said he had not been aware of the Maharey columns that were in question.

Verrall said she still had confidence in Maharey, and the situation in her view was different to Campbell’s.

“In terms of with Mr Campbell, he called the Leader of the Opposition stupid and he implied his policies were racist. While he apologised to me, he then doubled down on those criticisms in the press.”

She said Maharey had approached her off his own bat and “been contrite”.

“He was very clear he wanted the integrity of the public service not to be compromised.”

In one column he wrote in January, Maharey claimed “nothing seems new or fresh about the team National is offering” and likened the party to the Republican Party in the United States or Britain’s Conservative Party in that they “seem more interested in the past than the future”.

She said the key issue in Campbell’s case was that she lost confidence in him following his refusal to back down on his criticisms, after breaching the code of conduct.

On her own refusal to front the media on the issue since a brief statement announcing she was sacking him last week, she said the statement had set out her reasons clearly and she had not wanted to get into a battle of words with Campbell.

“I think Rob Campbell has been vocal enough on this issue.”

She denied she was backing away from the co-governance elements in the reforms, saying she wanted Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority to succeed.

Verrall was also asked about Campbell’s criticism of aspects of the health reforms.

She said Te Whatu Ora had to undertake a massive change programme. “I expected Mr Campbell to be focused on those issues rather than litigating various political issues.”

Verrall said she expected Te Whatu Ora to deliver on a number of areas across the year, saying she had asked for progress on wait lists, the pressures on emergency departments especially over winter, and shortages in the health workforce.

She denied it was bogged down in bureaucracy.