The New Zealand Herald

Te Pā ti Mā ori call for a probe forces Govt’s hand

The self-referral by Te Pā ti Mā ori to Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Commission­er Andrew Coster to investigat­e claims Census 2023 data and possibly Covid vaccinatio­n informatio­n was used to target Mā ori voters in Tā maki Makaurau has all but forced the Government to order an investigat­ion.

Te Pā ti Mā ori wants the official investigat­ion to be led by the police, as the police are the investigat­ive experts and can quickly determine fact from fiction. They are also non-political and don’t have political agendas to grind.

In police investigat­ions, officers play their investigat­ion cards and findings close to their chests until they can either put forward a case where there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecutio­n and people are charged, or dismiss the allegation­s through a lack of evidence and/or substance.

Former Manurewa Marae workers and a Ministry of Social Developmen­t worker based at the marae claim Te Pā ti Mā ori allegedly used the private data from Census 2023 forms to target Mā ori voters in the Auckland electorate during last year’s election. The marae CEO was Te Pā ti Mā ori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp, who beat Labour incumbent Peeni Henare by 42 votes to win the Tā maki Makaurau seat and entry to Parliament.

The allegation­s of misusing private data are serious and any findings could affect political parties, who depend on voter data from a range of data centres and data warehouses to target voter cohorts.

Te Pā ti Mā ori claims the allegation­s are baseless and only a police investigat­ion can completely exonerate it.

The speed at which this Manurewa Marae claim is travelling is quickly gaining momentum and high-level government ministry hui have already taken place.

Acting Public Service Commission­er Heather Baggott called in several government department heads “to ensure the serious allegation­s involving the misuse of personal data during last year’s general election are thoroughly investigat­ed”.

The problem is inquiries by government ministries into themselves are not independen­t.

Stats NZ has appointed its own independen­t investigat­or, Doug Craig, but it’s hard to work out what Craig, as a layperson, can uncover that police, who have legal jurisdicti­on and expertise to look into extraordin­arily complex claims, cannot.

That’s why the self-referral by Te Pā ti Mā ori to the Government and police was a classic move to force the Government to act.