Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell responds to two recent articles in the Media

Another Day, Another Lecture from the Green Party’s Moral High Ground

Former Green MP Catherine Delahunty has dusted off her soapbox to remind us again that the Treaty of Waitangi isn’t just a founding document but apparently the undisputed blueprint for total constitutional overhaul. According to her, the Privileges Committee and by extension, democracy itself should defer to an activist interpretation of Te Tiriti that somehow bypasses elections, representative governance, and that pesky little thing called public accountability.

John McLean: The cock Roche and the Heron

The Public Service Commission has at last released its report on the abuse of New Zealanders’ personal information in connection with Auckland’s Manurewa Marae and the 2023 general election.

The Report has been long awaited and much delayed. It was finalized in early December 2024 (it’s dated 5 December) but Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche – who’d just love to “disappear” the whole assault on New Zealand democracy - didn’t make the Report public until almost three months later, on 18 February 2025.

Kerre Woodham: We need a definitive answer to if data was misused

I don't think this counts as breaking news, does it?

An inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister has identified significant failures with public agencies’ protection of New Zealanders’ personal information and management of conflict of interests.

David Lillis: More on the Census Data Issue

Background

In early June of 2024 the New Zealand media reported allegations relating to misuse of 2023 New Zealand Census data by staff of the Manurewa Marae (e.g. Stuff, 2024). It was claimed that confidential information had been appropriated, copied and used to influence voting in the 2023 General Election. Further claims were made in relation to inducements to complete Census forms and register on the Māori electoral roll. 

Thus we heard that Census information may have been used in the political campaign of a particular person and subsequently that person was narrowly elected to parliament. 

Dr Bryce Edwards: Te Pati Māori political donations scandal gets worse

Sympathy should be extended to Te Pati Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp, who announced yesterday that she is taking six weeks off parliamentary duties to recover from kidney disease. This, of course, doesn’t give her a pass from the continued scrutiny applied to her political donations and allegedly improper electioneering that got her into Parliament last year. The first part of the official government inquiry is due in nine days.

New allegations about Te Pati Māori political finance

Cam Slater: Oh Boy, Things Are Getting Whiffy

The scandal enveloping Te Pati Maori and Manurewa Marae keeps getting murkier and there is now the rancid smell of political corruption emanating for their body politic.

A branded van, used by Te Pati Maori candidate Takutai Kemp last year, has raised fresh questions amid concerns over allegations relating to Manurewa Marae.

Cam Slater: And the Shredders Whir into Action

The shredders will whir into action at the Te Pati Maori office as the Government announces an inquiry into the shenanigans that went on at Manurewa Marae. Don’t want to have any pesky documents lying around, now, do we?

On the allegations surrounding Te Pati Maori, Luxon said the allegations were serious, going to the heart of trust in our democratic processes.

The Public Service Commission would undertake an independent enquiry.

Mike's Minute: Te Pāti Māori allegations are too serious to not investigate

Shall we open the week with a prediction?

This is the week the Government will call an inquiry into the accusations around the Māori Party, the marae and the use of Covid and census information.

The trouble is if the Government doesn’t call an inquiry, too many questions start to get asked around transparency and trust.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Te Pāti Māori allegations get fiery

The Te Pati Māori scandal is becoming much fiercer and more serious. Ever since the allegations emerged on Sunday, the party has uncharacteristically gone very silent. The MP in question, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, has gone to ground, and no other Te Pati Māori MPs are commenting.

Party President John Tamihere is also implicated in the scandal, as he’s also the Chief Executive of the Waipareira Trust (which provides social services for the government) and Chief Executive of the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency (a company that runs the Manurewa Marae and distributes government funding). And yesterday, he released a fiery press release, again vehemently denying all the allegations and suggesting that his various organisations are the victim of racism and colonisation – see: ‘Naughty Natives Are At It Again’

JC: The Snakes in the Grass May Be Poisonous

New Zealand is basically a snake-free country. From time to time sea snakes arrive carried on the currents and will come ashore to lay their eggs. It is well known that there are no land snakes in the country…until maybe now. These are the ‘snakes in the grass’ of the human variety. They are unpleasant people who can’t be trusted. If the myriad allegations swirling around John Tamihere, the Maori Party and the Manurewa Marae prove to be correct they may well fall into this category.

idbkiwi: Is This a Smoking Gun?

Recently Andrea Vance said in The Post that politicians and government agencies (including Police) are tiptoeing around allegations of scandalous and illegal misuse of Stats NZ and Health NZ data at the Manurewa marae in the run-up to last year’s election.

Brian Tamaki, not known for his tiptoeing skills, has booted the door down instead, weighing in with what he says is proof of skullduggery. Reproducing a document he says was put together by marae chief executive and Maori Party candidate Takutai Tarsh Kemp and an assistant which contains specific instructions for the data collection during last year’s ‘Winter Wellness Campaign’:

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Public inquiry needed on the Manurewa Marae allegations

Last weekend, deeply disturbing allegations emerged that the privacy of New Zealanders’ census data was grossly violated in the lead-up to the 2023 general election.

Media reports include allegations that confidential personal information collected during the 2023 census on behalf of Statistics New Zealand was illicitly copied for private benefit.

To make the potential violation of trust worse, it is alleged that the information might have been used to facilitate the political campaign of an associated person.