It’s a good question, what’s dodgier than a late night kebab? Right now in New Zealand politics the answer has to be the Maori Party, as revelations continue to pour forth over shenanigans in Tamaki Makaurau and the Manurewa Marae.
Andrea Vance from The Post got the ball rolling, and yesterday dropped another bombshell:
Te Pati Maori is facing fresh allegations that personal information collected for the Covid-19 Immunisation Programme was used for political campaigning.
A complaint was laid with the Electoral Commission in November by the Labour Party, which referred a breach of electoral laws to police.
But the agency did not notify either the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Social Development nor the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about an alleged breach of privacy or misuse of personal information.
It comes after the Sunday-Star Times revealed Stats NZ, the Government’s official data agency, is investigating claims private information collected by Manurewa Marae during the census was used by the party.
The urban marae — which was controversially used as a polling booth in last year’s general election — was run by Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp who pipped incumbent Labour MP Peeni Henare to the Tamaki Makaurau seat by just 42 votes.
The marae was at the forefront of Auckland’s vaccine rollout, being one of the first sites to offer immunisations. It was then part of a Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency drive to promote last year’s census, between March and June last year.
And then it became a polling booth at last year’s general election, a controversial decision because of Kemp’s candidacy for the Maori seat.
Former MP John Tamihere is chief executive of Whanau Ora, chief executive of the Waipareira Trust, a Maori urban authority that holds Whanau Ora contracts, and TPM president. He declined to answer questions yesterday.
The Post
They are just allegations, at present but they need to be investigated. John Tamihere is outright denying that anything dodgy has been going on, but a review of votes at the last election shows a glaring anomaly.
But because the mounting allegations from multiple whistle-blowers are spread across four or more different agencies (Electoral Commission, Stats NZ, Health NZ, MSD) I don’t think they can investigate properly because of the silos of information each agency holds.
The Privacy Commissioner has the power to investigate across all agencies. Section 79(b) of the Privacy Act allows them to initiate an investigation.
That would seem the best bet, but failing that a government inquiry led by a KC.
Even Chris Hipkins can smell a whiffy kebab in all this:
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has called the allegations surrounding Te Pati Maori “very serious” and says any improper conduct needs to be investigated.
The party has “unequivocally refuted” claims it misused data from Census records to help its election campaign, or deceptively obtained personal information from the Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for campaigning purposes.
Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Nick Mills these were “very serious allegations”.
NZ Herald
The problem Chris Hipkins has is that Willie Jackson is busily leaking what Labour’s caucus talks about to his mate JT. So any moves made by Labour are well-telegraphed. Hipkins knows this but prefers to do nothing.
Christopher Luxon has weighed in too:
Christopher Luxon has called the allegations surrounding Te Pati Maori “pretty serious” and says they need to be investigated promptly.
Speaking to media from Niue where the Prime Minister is making his first official Pacific visit, Luxon said the allegations were an issue for the party and the authorities.
NZ Herald.
As usual, though, Christopher Luxon misses an opportunity to put the boot in. The allegations ARE for the authorities for sure, and I’m not sure we can trust a lying word coming out of Te Pati Maori. Luxon should have announced a government inquiry and appointed a thoroughly obstinate and nasty KC or senior barrister to dig in to this officially.
To add even more murk, Philip Crump has been digging into the murky finances of associated parties:
All in all, there is a stench pervading this carry on which suggests that the late-night kebab actually fell down the back of the seat in the Holden and has been festering there for several days.
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