The Act Party is calling for Stuart Nash’s resignation as Police Minister after Nash revealed he had called the Police Commissioner to ask him about appealing a court decision because Nash felt the sentence wasn’t harsh enough.

Nash, speaking to Newstalk ZB this morning, referenced the conversation while talking about the need for appropriate punishments for offenders.

“I’ve seen a couple of judgements, and actually one I phoned up the Police Commissioner and said surely you’re going to appeal this?

“I was wandering around telling everyone if you have an illegal firearm, you could face five years in jail.

 “This bloke didn’t have a licence, had illegal firearms, had illegal ammunition and had guns without a licence and he got home detention, I think that was a terrible decision by the judge.”

Nash then sent a message to the judiciary, saying judges need to “read the room” on crime.

“Society is sick to death of these gang members creating havoc and we want it to be dealt with appropriately, but unfortunately police don’t determine what happens to them once they get in court.”

Speaking to reporters today, Nash maintained he had done nothing wrong, claiming he had simply asked a question of his “mate” Coster.

The instance he had referred to on Newstalk ZB reportedly occurred about two years ago after Nash had moved on from the police portfolio he was given in 2017.

“I wasn’t the Minister of Police, I was chewing the fat with a guy who was a mate about a decision that I thought was very bad in the circumstance that I had been involved in as Minister of Police buying back firearms and I’m going to leave it at that.”

Nash rebuffed any suggestion his relationship with Coster was inappropriate, given his role as minister.

He also restated his assertion that the court’s decision two years ago was flawed.

“I stand by that, I think it was a very bad decision.”

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster. Photo / NZME

Former National Party minister Maurice Williamson resigned in 2014 after the Herald revealed he urged police to be on “solid ground” regarding domestic assault charges against wealthy businessman Donghua Liu because he was “investing a lot of money in New Zealand”.

Act Party leader David Seymour cited Williamson’s resignation in his calling for Nash’s resignation.

“It’s totally unacceptable for politicians to interfere with police prosecution decisions,” Seymour said.

“This is the Minister of Police who is responsible for securing the budget for the police force, ringing up the commissioner saying, ‘Mate surely you’re going to appeal this particular case’, it’s just totally unacceptable and if he can’t understand that, surely out of Labour’s 64 MPs they can find someone who does and make them the Police Minister.”

Seymour was concerned about influence in future prosecutions if Nash’s comments were not discouraged.

“If you go down the path of people getting prosecuted or not prosecuted depending on whether politicians like them, then all protection of New Zealand’s basic rights go out the window.”

Act’s crime policies often advocated for stricter punishments on offenders in comparison to Labour, most notably its plan to reinstate the controversial Three Strikes legislation and fitting recidivist youth offenders as young as 11 with electronically monitored ankle bracelets.

Asked whether the theme of Nash’s comments was encouraging, Seymour said he was “as tough on crime as the next guy” but that it didn’t extend to compromising police independence.