Christopher Luxon has directed the Public Service Commissioner to investigate the “safeguards” agencies had in place. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Christopher Luxon has directed the Public Service Commissioner to investigate the “safeguards” agencies had in place. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced an independent investigation amid allegations surrounding Te Pāti Māori and Manurewa Marae.
The allegations, raised a week ago in reporting by the Sunday-Star Times and the Post, related to the alleged misuse of Census data and Covid-19 vaccination information at the marae for Te Pāti Māori’s election campaign. The marae was headed at the time by Takutai Tarsh Kemp, who has since become a Te Pāti Māori MP.
Te Pāti Māori has denied the claims, calling them “baseless and simply untrue”. The party said it welcomed the investigation.
Luxon has directed the Public Service Commissioner to investigate the “safeguards” agencies had in place to ensure personal information was being used appropriately by third parties “in the circumstances surrounding the allegations” and whether those safeguards worked.
The inquiry would also assess whether conflicts of interest, or any perceived conflicts of interest, were appropriately managed.
“If the allegations are true, the way data could be so easily shared between organisations through people wearing multiple hats would be of great concern.”
He told reporters at Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference the inquiry would be a “fact-finding mission” and run concurrently with investigations by other agencies.
Stats NZ, police and the Privacy Commissioner already have investigations under way. The Public Service Commissioner’s inquiry would be focused on the actions of public agencies, whereas the actions of private individuals would be within the remit of the police and Privacy Commissioner’s work, the Prime Minister said.
“I just want to reassure the New Zealand public,” Luxon said.
“We’ve had serious allegations made. I want an independent, arm’s-length, objective review undertaken. That’s best done [by the Public Service Commissioner] and I want to make sure that if there are any issues that they’re brought out.
“Equally, if there isn’t, that that is brought out too.”
In a letter to acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott, Luxon said the allegations were “very serious concerns” and “go to the heart of trust and confidence in our democratic processes and institutions”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The inquiry would cover the actions taken by Statistics NZ, the Ministry of Health, Health NZ, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development, as well as any other public service agency the commissioner considered relevant.
Further announcements on the inquiry’s terms of reference, its timing and who would lead it would be made this week.
Baggott last week called the heads of a raft of Government agencies into a meeting to ensure the agencies were examining the allegations. The agencies present included Stats NZ, the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Internal Affairs, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The Electoral Commission and police were also at the meeting.
At Monday’s press conference, Luxon said the actions last week from public agencies in response to these allegations was a good first step but not sufficient. He said the Public Service Commissioner was the appropriate entity to conduct this review because the agencies should not be reviewing their own work or responses.
“I want someone independent of them looking at the Government’s response to this.”
Luxon did not inform Te Pāti Māori about plans to order the review before it was announced publicly this afternoon, saying the situation was “moving very quickly”.
On Thursday, in his first full statement since the allegations aired, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said the “recent attacks on Te Pāti Māori and its MPs” were part of “a continuing narrative of attack” on all matters Māori.
“If we could respond to baseless innuendo we would,” he said
“If there is any evidence, then show us so we have a reason to engage in a conversation.”
On Friday, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer wrote to the Prime Minister, Police Commissioner and the Minister of Police asking for an urgent investigation into the allegations made against the party.
Tamihere said: “We consider that given our knowledge, these allegations are frivolous but require police to sanction our view.
