“I will still speak out when I need to speak out,” he said.
He now believes the threat to his ministerial post has been avoided.
Earlier this month, the cabinet asked for a legal opinion from New Zealand constitutional lawyer Alex Frame on whether the minister had breached cabinet protocol.
The opinion related to Rasmussen’s public statements opposing government’s fuel farm scheme and his filing of an affidavit with the high court in Triad Petroleum’s application for declaratory judgment.
Frame reportedly gave Prime minister Jim Marurai four options in dealing with the alleged breach of protocol — the first being expulsion from the cabinet.
“The matter is at rest. I have talked to the prime minister. The preferred position for all is that the matter is forgotten.”
The cabinet had asked for a legal opinion on the content of that affidavit through Solicitor-General Tingika Elikana.
The subject of the legal opinion was “cabinet collective responsibility” — a constitutional convention in Westminster system governments that members of cabinet must publicly support all decisions made in the cabinet, even if privately they do not agree with them.
Rasmussen said he disagrees with the legal opinion and in seeking his own on the matter was told that he would not be the first minister to speak out against a government decision.
One such recent example is cabinet minister and Aitutaki MP Kete Ioane’s objections to Air Rarotonga’s Sunday flights, which had been endorsed by his government.
Rasmussen maintains that when it comes to his responsibility as a minister and MP to the public and his constituents of Penrhyn, he will still speak out when he feels he must.
