Te Pāti Māori roasts Electoral Commission over Manurewa marae apology

The Electoral Commission should not have apologised for using Manurewa marae as a voting place, and concerns about influencing voters have no validity, Te Pāti Māori says.

Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has told RNZ the commission should have trusted the process it put in place at Manurewa marae, and has accused it of bowing to political pressure.

The commission says its apology and comments are based on its own reflections and review of the election.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has been investigating since June after accusations Te Pāti Māori misused data - from census forms and the Covid-19 vaccination campaign - to target voters during the election campaign.

That six-month inquiry led by Michael Heron KC and Pania Grey is complete, but the PSC on Monday confirmed it was not expected to be made public until the end of January.

The actions of Statistics NZ, the Ministry of Health, Health NZ, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development are all in scope. Police are also investigating, along with fact-finding missions from the agencies themselves and the Privacy Commissioner.

The Electoral Commission's chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne during scrutiny week also told MPs the plan to manage the perceived conflict of interest of having a polling place managed by an electoral candidate was insufficient, and it was unlikely to be used if Kemp stood again at the next election.

Le Quesne apologised, saying "we got that wrong" and the commission needed to investigate more closely when candidates were connected to voting places because "it is a bit of a slippery slope".

Takutai Tarsh Kemp had been the marae's chief executive, but stepped down after standing successfully for the party as a candidate, winning the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. She has denied the allegations and welcomed investigations.

It was a narrow victory with a difference of just 42 votes between Kemp and the then-incumbent candidate and minister Peeni Henare, who had held the seat since 2014. The result was confirmed in a judicial recount after the initial tally suggested Kemp had won by just four votes.

Ngarewa-Packer said it was important for marae to be used as polling booths, and argued the Electoral Commission should not have apologised.

"The Electoral Commission allowed it, they should have trusted in their process," she said. "I just think it's a real shame that community has to wear what I think is the Electoral Commission should have got their s*** together."

"I heard second hand that there was a comment in one of the select committees they regretted, or would not have supported a polling booth knowing that one of the staff members was ... a candidate ... I just sort of think, well, that's really good to say now, but you should have trusted in your process and protected the marae."

She suggested it was a case of the commission bowing to political pressure.

"They've had the month, the week, the day, the hour before to actually be able to check in, check [the location] out. Now - because there's a bit of political heat, now because things haven't gone the way they want, there's now this pressure - 'oh we wish we didn't'.

"The fact that we're now throwing everyone under the bus, I just feel for that community - they [the Electoral Commission] had a process, they trusted it, they endorsed it, they should have followed through with it. A bit of heat and they've crumbled."

In a statement, Le Quesne outlined the protections put in place to mitigate concerns about Kemp's involvement.

"We were aware the marae chief executive was also a candidate. Before agreeing to use the venue, we secured agreement that the candidate would not enter the voting place other than to vote and we were provided with an alternative designated contact person to deal with.

"As part of our review of the election, we have reflected on those arrangements. At the Justice Committee hearing on 3 December, when asked about the arrangements, I accepted that we did not give enough weight to the perceived conflict of interest."

Questioned about the accusation about bowing to political pressure, he said the comments to the select committee had been based on the commission's own reflections and review.

'Revolting politics'

Ngarewa-Packer said marae were run by volunteers and it was worrying that they were being pulled into the "revolting politics" around the situation.

"[Marae] are run by people who volunteer with their heart to deliver something for their communities and there's just been so many revolting politics about this - whether it's Brian Tamaki's politics or whether it's Labour who got the feels because, you know, somebody took out a standing minister - the reality is amongst all of that is this community, this humble community who've homed the homeless.

"They were amazing, stood up during Covid, they've done amazing things for food banks and kai banks."

Henare, who at the time was minister for the Environment, Tourism, ACC, Whānau Ora and Veterans, said in a statement Labour supported and respected the process.

"It is important that the allegations regarding the use of personal data during last year's general election by Te Pāti Māori are substantiated and thoroughly investigated, so that whānau have confidence that their personal data is being used appropriately," he said.

"To be clear, these allegations by no means reflect on the volunteers, kaimahi and whānau at Manurewa Marae, who do excellent work every day to support the community. This work must be supported and continued.

"However, it is equally important to understand that there is a clear delineation of roles between what kaimahi do during the election period and what they do before it so that information that is collected is used appropriately and transparently."

In his own written response, Tamaki said if anyone should be apologising it was Te Pāti Māori, "but oh no, they are too arrogant to do that. The only Māori that Te Pāti Māori speak for are the radicals they have misled".

"There are a lot of good people at the Manurewa Marae ... but there are also those who have exploited the marae to run their political campaigns.

"A number of good Destiny members and non-Destiny members were involved in the community work out of Manurewa Marae during the Covid years, but they saw the dishonest and corrupt Te Pāti Māori practices that implicated and dragged the marae down."

He also called for the Māori seats to be abolished and accused Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere and party executives of orchestrating an "elaborate scam". He said the "whole drama has been an absolute shambles" but "their Māori gravy train has come to a grinding halt".

Tamihere has repeatedly denied the allegations and said the party welcomes any investigation into it.

'Our Māori tikanga doesn't change just because there's an election'

Ngarewa-Packer said she did not think concerns about the potential for votes to be swayed by information or food being provided had any validity.

"No ... and I also don't have a problem with marae manaaki. I don't know what the Electoral Commission expected - that a large urban marae in the middle of South Auckland, people don't just walk in there like it's a town hall, they must be pōwhiri, they must be whakatau, then they have a cup of tea.

"You can't just walk in off the side, you've literally got to walk in and there's a karanga coming at you, so I don't know why they thought there wouldn't be kai, there wouldn't be manaaki, and there wouldn't be the kind of things that everyday marae normally run.

"Our Māori tikanga doesn't change just because there's an election process ... there was billboards up for ages so I don't buy into this deflecting. They should have known how it works, you don't just walk into a marae like it's Charlie Brown's backyard. It had tikanga around it, we're the most regulated people in the bloody world."

She said it would not have been as big of a talking point if it had not been a marae.

"If it was a town hall or church or a council-owned building which gets bugger all people through it, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Le Quesne said marae were regularly used as locations for voting places "as they are well known and accessible venues in communities", and the concerns raised about food had not been borne out.

"We looked into complaints about the provision of food at Manurewa Marae and it did not meet the test for treating. We have asked Parliament to consider whether greater clarity can be provided in the Electoral Act, including cultural considerations."

PSC report delayed to end of January

Ngarewa-Packer said the matter was being handled by the wider party rather than the leaders, and she did not expect to necessarily see the PSC's report herself.

In a statement, the Deputy Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott said the commission needed to give careful consideration of the findings.

It had taken six months, was complex, involving six agencies, third-party service providers and had findings that would impact all of the public service.

"The inquiry's findings will require a thorough response," she said. "The protection of personal information is paramount and it's important we get the response right.

"Some matters will also require referral to other authorities for further consideration.

"The commission intends to release the findings and its response at the end of January."

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