Phil Heatley will be reinstated to Cabinet after the Auditor-General's inquiry found that while he spent $1402 of taxpayers' money wrongly he did not intentionally break the rules.
"On the basis of the findings of the report... I have decided to reinstate Phil Heatley back to Cabinet. In reading the report I think any reasonableNew Zealander that reads the report would reach the same conclusion that I did - that there was no deliberate attempt to rort the taxpayer, while there were one or two mistakes made... the rules are in fact quite confusing.''
Mr Heatley resigned his housing and fisheries and aquaculture portfolios on February 25 after admitting he misused his credit card.
Auditor-General Lyn Provost today published her report on the audit into Mr Heatley's ministerial spending from when he became a minister in November 2008 until he quit.
A further report would look into wider issues around rules, policies and procedures and could uncover issues with other MPs' spending.
The inquiry found Mr Heatley spent $1402 of taxpayers' money wrongly but did not intentionally break the rules.
However, it did state that Mr Heatley could have been more careful and public trust was at stake.
Mr Key said Mr Heatley took responsibility for his actions and had not tried to hide anything. There had been no attempt to rip off the taxpayer and there was not more to the story as Labour deputy leader Annette King previously claimed.
A relieved Mr Heatley told NZPA he had accepted the reinstatement, but would not say if he had asked for his job back.
"I am pleased to be back on the horse and keen to get on with it... He was happy to take me back and I was enthusiastic about getting back.''
Asked if he believed it was right that he be reinstated considering he had broken the rules, Mr Heatley said: "It is up to me to move on and get on with my job. It is up for other people to make that judgment... I have to put it behind me and get on with it.''
Mr Heatley said he had "learnt an awful lot'' through the issue.
"I will be putting my lessons into use. There's no doubt the Auditor-General thinks there needs to be more clarity around the rules. Clearly I needed to be more careful and I will be.''
