It comes as two members of the Labour Party express frustration with the delay of the Public Service Commission (PSC) investigation, which won’t report publicly until at least the end of January.
The commission said on Monday that the findings were “complex”, “will impact all of the public services” and some will “require referral to other authorities for further consideration”.
It intends to release the findings publicly at the end of January. It previously had an indicative reporting date of September 16, and this month, Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said he hoped the report would be released before the end of the year.
The inquiry was sparked by allegations that Census data and Covid-19 vaccination information collected at Manurewa Marae in Auckland had been misused to help Te Pāti Māori’s election campaign. The marae was also a voting site.
Takutai Tarsh Kemp, the party’s candidate in the local Tāmaki Makaurau electorate who went on to win by just 42 votes, was the marae’s chief executive at the time. Te Pāti Māori has strongly rejected the allegations and welcomed investigations. President John Tamihere called for “hard evidence” to substantiate claims.
Te Pati Maori’s co-leader Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said on Tuesday they hadn’t been briefed on the latest.
“No, we’ve been told nothing. So I can’t even share anything with you. I have been told nothing,” said Waititi.
“We are the face of the political space, but we’re not the face of the party executive.”
They referred questions to the party’s executive. The Herald has contacted the party for comment on whether it’s frustrated by delays and whether it had been presented with adverse findings.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi (left) and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at Parliament. Photograph by Marty Melville
The PSC investigation was launched in June following direction from the Prime Minister and Public Service Minister. It looked into whether the personal information provided to government agencies as part of Census 2023 and for Covid-19 vaccination purposes had been misused.
Agencies in the scope of the inquiry included Statistics NZ, the Ministry of Health, Health NZ, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Social Development. The third party providers within scope included the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust and Manurewa Marae Trust Board.
Stats NZ last year partnered with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to lift low census responses from Māori. Collection operations were then led by Whānau Ora’s Te Pae Herenga o Tāmaki collective, which Manurewa Marae is a part of, Stats NZ said.
Labour’s Peeni Henare, who held the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate between 2014 and 2023, when he was beaten by Tarsh Kemp, said he was “frustrated” by the delay.
“But I am more frustrated on behalf of the community of Manurewa. The longer this shadow hangs over them it detracts from the great work that Manurewa Marae and other service providers in Manurewa did in Manurewa and the sooner it is sorted out, the better.
“It has been pushed back now several times, and that is simply not good enough.”
He said it was important the commission got its response right, but “with the shadow continuing to be hung over the marae and the agencies, for some it sounds like they might be trying to hide their tracks if you will”.
“The sooner we get a more fulsome and complete report, the better. I feel for the community of Manurewa.”
Willie Jackson, whose cousin is the marae’s chair and is a longtime friends of Tamihere’s, called it an “absolute mess”. He didn’t know why the report had been pushed out, but “the sooner we see the report, the better”.
“I talk with people from Manurewa Marae all the time, but they’re no wiser,” Jackson said.
The Labour MP also referenced comments the Electoral Commission made this month acknowledged it failed to manage the perceived conflict of interest of having Manurewa Marae be a voting base when its chief executive was a candidate.
“There were some clear mistakes made, there’s an apology that’s been given,” Jackson said.
“It’s easy to blame Manurewa Marae, but they got offered the contracts over there, so I understand the apology. It’s been a total mess over there so we are waiting for a response.
“Common sense tells you that the marae probably shouldn’t [have] been given that status given the candidate was there.”
Public Service Minister Nicola Willis told the Herald on Monday: “The report goes to public trust and confidence in the public service, so the Public Service Commission needs to have utmost confidence in their findings, conclusions, and next steps.
“I have been advised that the Public Service Commission wants more time to ensure both that natural justice processes are completed satisfactorily, and that they can respond effectively to the findings in the report.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
