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Thursday, December 5, 2024

Centrist: Chief electoral officer falls on his sword.....



Chief electoral officer falls on his sword: admits failure over Manurewa Marae voting site

The Electoral Commission has admitted mishandling the perceived conflict of interest in using Auckland’s Manurewa Marae as a voting location during the 2023 election, where the marae’s CEO, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, ran successfully for Te Pāti Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne, speaking to Parliament’s Justice select committee, acknowledged the mitigation plan to address the conflict was inadequate. Le Quesne took full responsibility and suggested the marae might not be used again if Kemp contests the 2026 election.

The controversy revolves around allegations that personal data collected at the marae was misused for Te Pāti Māori’s campaign—claims the party denies. An ongoing inquiry by the Public Service Commission is expected to report soon.

Editor’s note: This story raises questions beyond the Electoral Commission’s admission of error. The key issue for many is whether Kemp leveraged her position unfairly to secure her seat, which she won by only 42 votes.

Notably, Te Pāti Māori’s co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, often escape media scrutiny in times of controversy. Party president John Tamihere appears to exert more influence than the party’s co-leaders.

State media outlets appear to rarely hold them to account, unlike leaders of other parties. This appears to enable activities like recruitment drives under the guise of activism and allows the promotion of controversial policies.

The Centrist is a new online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One things the media is very quite about is Te Pati Maori's policies, what all their sheep like supporters are actually supporting. That includes a separate Maori army, separate Parliament that will control the country, all pakeha place names changed to Maori, all public land given to Maori so no more national parks, no more research into native plants as Maori own them, all foreshore and seabed given to Maori, anyone selling land has to offer it to Maori first at their price. In other words, make NZ like Zimbabwe.

Ellen said...

Given the very dark cloud that hangs over the whole scene, surely Ms Kemp's tenure of the seat should be on hold until the end of a full investigation. Seems to me it is not only Te Pati Maori that is corrupt.

Anonymous said...

Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne has not fallen on his sword - Nowhere have we seen anything about a resignation! Nor for that matter is there any hint that Takutai Tarsh Kemp is giving any indication of resigning. In July 2024 The Herald headlined an article "Investigation into Waipareira political donations referred to Charities Registration Board" . At the end of Sept, JT's Waipareira website said "We are not under investigation by the Charities Commission or SFO. With the former a warning notice has been notified, we are in discussions and are contesting the warning notice. Nothing has been probed or investigated and Ms Weight from the Commission has knowingly misled the press. With the latest confirmation coming from the Serious Fraud Office, I hope the mainstream media show some balance and coverage of the latest developments." Does this suggest that both the SFO & The Charities Commissioners are running true to form? PTFE is I believe the slipperiest substance known, is that what JT is made of?