On the allegations relating to immunisation data, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora said it had not received any complaints but would be seeking assurances from providers that they have complied with their obligations around the privacy of individuals.
“We will also be asking police and the Electoral Commission if they hold any information or complaints that we should be aware of.”
The claims were first revealed by the Sunday Star Times. Reports included allegations private data from Census forms was photocopied and entered into a database, which sources believed was then used to target voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.
The Post later reported the party faced allegations personal information gathered during the Covid-19 vaccine programme was also used for political campaigning.
During the election campaign, the Labour Party complained to the Electoral Commission about text messages urging people to vote for Te Pāti Māori.
The key complaint was that the text messages did not have an authorisation statement setting out who was responsible for it. Electoral laws require all forms of political advertising to have a statement saying who had authorised it – usually the candidate or party’s general secretary – and an address.
However, Labour also flagged concerns that the four-digit number used was the same as that used by Waipareira Trust to send out Covid-19 vaccination messages.
Te Pāti Māori said it welcomed an investigation and that Kemp had its “full support and confidence” to carry out her duties.
Party president John Tamihere also strongly denied the allegations, calling for anyone to produce “hard evidence” and describing “unsubstantiated sources” as unhelpful.
When asked about the new allegations around misuse of Covid-19 vaccination information, the party said: “Keeping with last night’s statement, it’s hard to defend yourself on rumour, speculation and allegation. We’re waiting for any hard evidence to prove anything to be true.”
Luxon, who is currently on his first trip to the Pacific as Prime Minister, said it was good an investigation had been launched into the “pretty concerning” allegations.
“All I’ll say to you is I think they are pretty serious allegations; they are warranted to be investigated appropriately and prompted,” he said.
“It’s good there’s an investigation under way, they are serious allegations and they deserve to be investigated and it’s important that they are.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins also described the allegations as “serious”. He said he did not want marae to stop helping Māori get vaccinated, apply for an electoral roll or fill out Census forms, but there needed to be “clear delineations”.
“It’s really important that they make sure they’ve got processes in place to keep clear delineations between those activities so that any information that’s collected through them isn’t used inappropriately,” Hipkins said.
The independent investigation was requested by Stats NZ and will review the allegations of misused 2023 Cenus data collected at the marae. Police also confirmed they received a complaint last week.
Stats NZ partnered with Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency during the 2023 Census to help lift low response rates among Māori in Auckland. As part of these efforts, Whānau Ora worked with Manurewa Marae.
Chief statistician Mark Sowden called on anyone with information relating to the allegations to contact Stats NZ.
“We are taking these allegations very seriously.”
