The co-chairperson of Labour’s Māori caucus says an inquiry into allegations Census data was misused for political campaigning will be “incredibly important”.
However, long-standing MP Willie Jackson continued to back the marae at the centre of the controversy, saying it was doing an “incredible job serving South Auckland”.
On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the Public Service Commission would carry out an independent investigation into the allegations amid ongoing reviews by several government agencies — including Stats NZ.
Several former workers at Manurewa Marae have alleged to other media that data was collected to help Te Pati Māori at last year’s election. The party has strenuously denied the allegations, calling them “baseless and simply untrue”.
Jackson told Q+A that the allegations “cut to the heart of democracy”.
“We’ve been very clear that process has to go through, and if anything is found untoward, then obviously there’ll be problems for those people,” he said.
“It’s a huge thing that’s happening in South Auckland at the moment. A lot of us, being part of South Auckland, have never seen this before, but it’s necessary.
“We had an outstanding candidate in Peeni Henare. We were shocked when they lost the election. We’re waiting to see what’s going to happen.”
Labour’s Henare lost to Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp by only 42 votes.
Acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott said action to investigate allegations related to last year’s election is underway.
Kemp was Manurewa Marae’s chief executive during the campaign and stepped down after winning the Tamaki Makaurau seat.
Jackson added: “We can’t have people’s private information shared [as has been alleged] — I’m not saying that’s happened. But it’s incredibly important because it cuts to the heart, I suppose, of democracy and what people see as fair.”
The PM said earlier this week that the investigation would enter a “fact-finding phase”. The allegations were first broken in reporting by Stuff.
Speaking to Q+A, Jackson heaped praise on Manurewa Marae’s community work despite the serious allegations made by several former workers.
“No one can deliver better than the marae to the people who are there,” he said.
“There’s been impeccable delivery by a lot of these marae, by Waipareira, in terms of getting to our people. We saw the results of that through Covid.”
The MP added: “Manurewa Marae has done an incredible job in terms of serving South Auckland. They get a bit irritated because they sort of see themselves as the little players here and our communities want the powerful investigated too.”
In his Q+A interview, Jackson also responded to renewed calls for a Māori Parliament, controversial comments by two Te Pāti Māori MPs, Labour’s internal review following its election defeat, the return of charter schools and turmoil in the news media sector.
MP reveals why he didn’t speak at Budget Day protest
Jackson said he was asked to speak at Budget Day protests, but would’ve only been able to do so if Labour supported introducing a Māori Parliament — an idea floated by Te Pāti Māori. The party had a significant role in convening and organising the protests.
The nationwide day of action was called as a protest against the Coalition Government’s policies affecting Māori.
“I was asked by John Tamihere to speak, but they wanted us to commit to a Māori Parliament, and I couldn’t and nor could the Greens,” he said.
“Myself and Madama Davidson were meant to speak, but that’s OK. It would’ve been good to speak, but they made a decision to just speak on their own, because they had organised it.”
The Labour MP said reviving the introduction of a Māori Parliament was a “distraction”.
Te Pāti Māori says allegations are ‘baseless’
Earlier this month, Te Pāti Māori said its co-leaders had written to “the Prime Minister, the Police Commissioner and Minister of Police seeking the police lead an urgent investigation into the allegations made against Te Pāti Māori”.
“Whilst we have welcomed the independent review initiated by Statistics New Zealand, we consider that given our knowledge, these allegations are frivolous but require police to sanction our view,” party president John Tamihere said.
“We have asked the journalist to front with the evidence on behalf of those making the allegations. They have not.
“We welcome an immediate investigation into these allegations to once again prove our innocence, and to highlight the bias in media.”
He said in an earlier statement: “We unequivocally refute these allegations and welcome news of an independent investigation into the alleged misuse of data.
“The allegations are baseless and simply untrue.”
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
