Ele Ludemann: ‘Beads and blankets’ buying votes

There is so much wrong with what is alleged here:

A Te Pāti Māori MP and the marae she once ran are at the centre of claims that private information collected during the census was used for political campaigning.

Stats NZ, the Government’s official data agency, is now investigating after a whistleblower from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) came forward with a series of allegations relating to Manurewa Marae.

The whistleblower also laid a complaint with police last week.

Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp stood down as the marae’s chief executive last year after narrowly beating incumbent Labour MP Peeni Henare by only 42 votes in the election’s Tāmaki Makaurau race. . .

The probe comes as a number of former marae workers have alleged that:

Hundreds of census forms collected by marae staff were photocopied and retained; and data from the forms such as personal contact details, household occupancy and birth dates was entered into an online database and sent to the Waipareira Trust. Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere runs the social services charity and is chief executive of Whānau Ora, and denies this.

* They believe that information was then used to target Māori electorate voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.

* They also allege that Marae staff who delivered census forms also included enrolment forms for voters to change from the general to the Māori roll.

Further allegations are that:

 

* Participants were given $100 supermarket vouchers, wellness packs or food parcels to induce them to complete the forms.

* Visitors to the marae last year were also given $100 supermarket vouchers when they completed the forms to switch rolls.

* Attempts were made to alert Stats NZ and MSD, but neither agency acted.

Allegations of wrongdoing don’t stop at misuse of data and bribery to change rolls:

In the wake of the election, the marae was at the centre of claims it had broken electoral laws by providing food during the advance voting period. After an investigation, the Electoral Commission chose not to refer the matter to police, despite complaints from the Labour, National and Vision NZ parties.

In February, the Star-Times revealed deleted social media videos that promoted a ticketing system where voters could collect free hāngī, doughnuts, hot chocolate and coffee on providing proof of voting at the marae. . .

That link to the SST also reports:

. . . The account also posted a live video which included footage of Kemp’s campaign vehicle, branded with Te Pāti Māori livery, and invited people to vote at the marae where an event that day would include free food.

Documents, released after an Official Information Act request, reveal the commission was first made aware of the videos in the fortnight before election day on October 14, but they remained up for the duration of voting. The videos were taken down when media first began reporting on the allegations in early November.

In total, seven complaints were made, including from Labour and Vision NZ, raising concerns about breaches of treating rules and advertising published without a promoter statement. . .

Why wouldn’t the commission investigate such serious allegations? Kemp holds the seat by only 42 votes, that would require only 21 votes to be invalid to make it a draw, 22 for her to lose the seat.

Preying on the poor and hungry, bribing them to sign up, inducing them to vote with free food . . . If this is true it’s illegal, it raises serious questions about the election process and it also reminds me of the beads and blankets, the currency early settlers used to ‘buy’ land from Māori.

It’s the sort of behaviour that happens in countries where corruption is rife.


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These allegations are so serious there must be a proper investigation of all agencies involved – Stats NZ, MSD and the Electoral Commission – and the processes they used.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.