New Zealand
In New Zealand, ministerial responsibility has tended to follow British practice. Ministers have resigned in cases of personal misconduct, but more rarely in cases of maladministration. Ministers have refused to resign in some cases where they have been asked to account for departmental errors. The most famous case was Bob Semple, who refused to resign in 1943 over engineering failures in the construction of a railway tunnel. He was quoted as saying "I am responsible, but not to blame." Subsequent notable incidents have included the refusal of a minister's resignation in the 1980s over compromised security of Budget documents, a minister resigning his portfolio (but not leaving Cabinet) over the 1995 Cave Creek disaster, and the resignation of a minister in 2011 for appearing to interfere in the administration of an ACC case.
Read more about this topic: Individual Ministerial Responsibility
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