Bob Edlin: DoC’s lax partnership with Far North iwi.....

How taxpayers have been short-changed by DoC’s lax partnership with Far North iwi

It looks like DoC has fallen down on the job of looking after its straitened finances.

RNZ has reported on the financial consequences of te department’s failure to properly oversee the management of three Far North campgrounds for many years.

The issues are now the subject of an external investigation with DOC estimating the Ngāti Kuri Trust Board owes $1.8 million in “campsite revenue”.

The Board, fair to say, disagrees the debt is owing.

Maybe they have a case because it seems DoC has been sloppy in the paper-work department.

In a letter to the Board, obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act, DOC’s director-general said the arrangement had continued because DOC did not put a contract in place when it should have, did not maintain proper oversight, and did not act on internal concerns raised over a period of years.

“That is the Department’s responsibility, and the work ahead is, in the first instance, about the Department putting its own house in order.”

RNZ had revealed in a previous report that DOC had launched an external investigation following concerns regarding relationships with iwi and processes such as procurement and debt management.

The external investigation followed three internal reviews about

• how DOC’s Northland region has delivered its obligations under the Te Hiku Settlements;
• the region’s systems and processes including assets, procurement, contracts and debt; 
• and leadership and culture

According to a June 2 letter from DOC’s director-general to Ngāti Kuri Trust Board, Nelson said she was aware the relationship between DOC and Ngāti Kuri was under strain, partly because of “arrangements and practices that the Department itself should have managed better over a sustained period.”

Nelson said a recent independent internal review had identified a number of issues relating to the operation of three campgrounds: Spirits Bay, Tapotupotu and Rarawa.

She said the review confirmed that since at least 2021, the booking systems for the campgrounds had operated outside department-controlled systems and the revenue collected from campers had been retained by Ngāti Kuri rather than being paid into a Crown bank account.

“I understand that this practice has, in part, reflected Ngāti Kuri’s intention to enable reinvestment back into the sites, and I acknowledge that the Department, over a number of years, has neither questioned nor formally documented the basis on which this arrangement has continued.”

Nelson said the current arrangement was not consistent with both the requirements of the Public Finance Act, nor the department’s obligations under the Conservation Act.

“I want to acknowledge clearly that the position the Department now finds itself in is not one that I attribute to Ngāti Kuri.”

The RNZ report says a summary of the independent internal review identified a “set of connected leadership, governance and control weaknesses” within the Northern North Island region.

The review found conflict of interest declarations were low in the region despite “the presence of potential or perceived conflicts that would reasonably be expected to be declared and actively managed”.

“Consistent processes to ensure actual, potential, and perceived conflicts are identified and managed appropriately were absent.”

Since 2018/19 no formal contract had been in place with Ngāti Kuri to manage the campgrounds.

Procurement, payment controls and policies in Kaitaia were not always applied consistently, and purchase orders were “repeatedly raised late or not at all”.

A summary of the Northern North Island leadership and culture review said confidence in regional leadership was “low”.

You can’t keep the Treaty out of considerations, when a Government department is dealing with iwi.

Another review, called the Te Hiku reset review, looked at identifying where DOC needed to change or improve the way it worked with Te Hiku iwi in implementing Treaty claims settlement obligations.

In relation to leadership, the review found there was no “clear, shared strategy or plan for implementing Treaty settlements”.

It also said DOC systems were “experienced as slow, complex, and misaligned with iwi aspirations and timelines”.

“Procurement, permissions, and funding processes create barriers rather than enabling delivery.”

The Department of Conservation has been widely reported as being under-funded.

The Far North experience entitles us to wonder how much revenue has been disputed or foregone in other parts of the country.

Oh – and to what extent is DoC’s interpretation of its Treaty obligations a factor which helps to explain what has happened?

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.