Ani O'Brien: Rot - ACC has problems

Rot in the Accident Compensation Corporation

This saga begins with a cringeworthy cliche scandal which morphs into a bigger classic case of rotten nepotism and self-interest. Then a second scandal pops up, and then, in the process of mopping these scandals up, the whole thing becomes an almost comedic additional problem.

Peter Williams: The Dysfunctional Maori Health Trusts

First there was the Waipareira Trust, then the Manukau Urban Maori Authority (MUMA) and now there’s Te Kaika.

They have much in common.

They’re all Maori owned and controlled health and social service providers.

Matua Kahurangi: Nepotism, racism, and the audacity of silence

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s Parliamentary Shame

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s latest statement to her constituents is an exercise in deflection, obfuscation, and sheer political theatre. She writes with “aroha” and “humility,” claiming transparency, yet carefully sidesteps the elephant in the room: her own glaring nepotism and the toxic behaviour of her racist and allegedly violent son, Eru Kapa-Kingi.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Advice to Young Kiwis how to manage your career in NZ.....

Advice to Young Kiwis how to manage your career in NZ, where corruption and nepotism are rampant, though where no-one ever gets prosecuted.

On The Platform Radio show last week, I unleashed on the topic of the lack of integrity and nepotism and corruption in New Zealand. It works differently here from other countries. For example, one of my mates from Argentina who founded the field of the "economics of corruption" described how wage setting by unions frequently works there: the union boss negotiates with the company boss behind closed doors. In exchange for taking a reduced wage demand, the company boss gives a suitcase of cash to the union boss. Simple as that. In NZ, it turns out we are way more sophisticated.

Brian Tamaki: Te Pāti Māori’s Gravy Train Exposed – And They’re Spitting Tacks

We are one people, one vote, one law and one flag.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says I’m playing “revolting politics”, but let’s be real – what’s truly revolting is how Te Pāti Māori has exploited Manurewa Marae to further their corrupt political agenda. If anyone should be apologising, it’s Te Pāti Māori, but they’re too arrogant to admit their wrongdoing.

Te Pāti Māori are spitting hate at me because I was one of the first to expose their corruption at Manurewa Marae. They know I’m not afraid to call them out, and the truth stings.

Lushington D. Brady: Thanks for Showing Us What a ‘Voice’ Will Be Like

Nepotism, abuse and troughing all the way

When Lidia Thorpe went on a raging, racist rampage of abuse outside a Melbourne strip joint, some commented that it was a preview of what the “Voice” in action would look like. They were more right than they knew.

Graham Adams: Report into Mahuta family contracts leaves questions unanswered

It is ironic that the release of the long-awaited report into government contracts awarded to Nanaia Mahuta’s family has been overshadowed by an even bigger controversy over her role in a secretive attempt to entrench an anti-privatisation clause in the Three Waters legislation.

The publication of the review by Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes on Tuesday must have come as a profound relief to the embattled Minister of Local Government.

Mahuta particularly welcomed the statement that Hughes had found “no evidence of favouritism, bias, or undue influence over agency decisions in relation to KAS (Ka Awatea Services) or KC [Kawai Catalyst] due to the connections with the minister”.

Bryce Edwards: Time for the Auditor General to investigate Mahuta contracts

Pressure is increasing on the Auditor General to undertake an inquiry into numerous contracts, appointments and grants awarded to members of Cabinet Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s family by various government departments she has had official responsibility for.

Allegations and revelations are mounting up, meaning this issue can no longer be ignored. As economist and political commentator Eric Crampton wrote yesterday, if the allegations – especially those documented by Herald journalist Kate McNamara – bear up, then “New Zealand is a fundamentally corrupt country. If it doesn’t, the air needs clearing”.

John Porter: Nepotism or Corruption in the NZ Government?

Nepotism is the practice by those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs. Corruption is dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power.

Not a lot of difference between nepotism and corruption, is there?

But an article recently published online, if accurate, clearly shows there is a substantial amount of one or the other going on in this Labour Government, and most of it is centred around Nanaia Mahuta.

Graham Adams: Ardern dodges questions on Mahuta’s conflicts in Three Waters and is slippery on the role for minister’s sister

As meagre information about the appointment of Nanaia Mahuta’s younger sister, Tipa, to a pivotal role in Three Waters is gradually prised out of the government, it is becoming clear the Prime Minister has no intention of letting the public know exactly how that shell game played out.

What we do know is that Tipa’s elder sister transferred her power of appointment as Minister of Local Government to her Cabinet colleague, Kelvin Davis, in February 2021. He appointed Tipa to the chair of Te Puna – the Māori Advisory Group, which advises the new water regulator, Taumata Arowai, in May.

That ministerial power was returned to Nanaia Mahuta in June.

Wendy Geus: When the Govt Endorses Nepotism

NZers were forced to read the tea leaves regarding Labour’s (hidden) 2020 election manifesto whilst, behind the scenes, the taxpayer-funded Mahuta family worked on the He Puapua policy.

Recently Grant Robertson joined in the discussion around the US Supreme Court decision on abortion and did some tea-leaf reading of his own around Christopher Luxon’s promise that he would not relitigate or change our abortion law, passed before he entered parliament, if he became PM.

(Paddy Gower on the Nation made a vicious attack on Luxon’s stance, including wrongly accusing him of voting for the NZ bill, for which Simon Shepherd made a sheepish apology on his behalf the following week.)

Bryce Edwards: Government appointments under scrutiny

Are our ethical standards in politics dropping? Recently there have been several appointments made by Government and related agencies that have raised questions about conflicts of interest or about whether correct procedures have been followed.

However, not all scrutiny and criticisms are welcomed or embraced. Sometimes those that raise questions about politicians and officials are charged with nit-picking, points-scoring, scandalmongering, or even various forms of prejudice.

And yet, by scrutinising those in power, and taking seriously even the most minor of lapses of ethics or rule-breaking, we are best able to ensure that our system of public life is as honest as possible. So, it’s important to keep an eye on any apparent trends of increasing integrity violations.

Graham Adams: More on the Mahuta mess

A ministry investigation shows that concerns about perceived conflicts of interest are not going away — no matter what the mainstream media says.

History is littered with confident assessments that made people look extremely foolish soon afterwards. A famous example came just before the 1929 sharemarket crash when economist Irving Fisher proclaimed: “Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”

Watching Newshub’s Isobel Ewing effectively advise the nation last week there’s “nothing to see here” in the gathering storm over Nanaia Mahuta’s apparent conflicts of interest made it difficult not to think of Fisher and other short-sighted sages.

Ewing’s rush to judgment seemed, at best, premature. She was reporting on Environment Minister David Parker’s announcement that the ministry would hold an internal inquiry into the appointment of Nanaia Mahuta’s husband and two members of her extended family to a five-member, public-sector working group in waste management.

Mike Hosking: About time there was an investigation into the Mahuta contracts

As if the Government didn’t have enough credibility issues, the inevitable Mahuta investigation has begun against the backdrop of the Prime Minister saying she had her full confidence.

There is something not right about the whole Mahuta thing. The Foreign Affairs appointment came so far out of left field it made the Poto Williams appointment look like a stroke of genius.

A person who hates flying but is Foreign Affairs Minister. A person who has barely travelled post Covid, telling us the Pacific is fine and we can wait until the Pacific Leaders Forum next month while the Chinese park themselves locally aiming to achieve God knows what, and Penny Wong on a plane most days to try and mop up the potential damage.

There is a power struggle between the Prime Minister and the Māori caucus. There can be no other explanation for the ridiculous defence over a Minister who is low profile, work shy, and letting her portfolios down.

Graham Adams: Sister Act - Just how powerful will Tipa Mahuta be?

The response by Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson last week to questions about four members of Nanaia Mahuta’s family — including her sister — being appointed to taxpayer-funded positions was so lame it was impossible not to feel embarrassed on his behalf.

When David Seymour asked in Parliament if the appointments met the standards set out in the Cabinet Manual relating to ministers’ real or apparent conflicts of interest, Robertson resorted to the old chestnut, beloved by his leader, of rejecting the “premise of the question”.

He insisted that Nanaia Mahuta, the Minister of Local Government, had scrupulously followed official advice — ignoring the fact the Cabinet Manual makes it clear that following the rules won’t prevent apparent conflicts of interest from being damaging.

Karl du Fresne: Nanaia Mahuta and the smell test

The mainstream media have been trying desperately hard to ignore profoundly disturbing questions about the appearance of conflicts of interest involving members of Nanaia Mahuta’s family.

The scandal has reached a point where media credibility, along with that of Mahuta, is on the line. That is, if it hasn’t been shredded beyond repair already.

Revelations about government jobs and contracts awarded to Mahuta’s family connections first emerged on The Daily Examiner website on May 22, illustrating the point that it’s often online platforms, rather than ethically compromised mainstream media, that break important stories – especially those that show the government in a poor light.