Questions swirling after allegations against three political parties

A look at the claims, and how they've been responded to.

Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, June 10, produced in partnership with Blind Low Vision NZ.

In today’s edition: Luxon blindsided by Australian deportation policy, New Zealand has a new wealthiest family, and Scott Watson’s conviction returns to court. But first: how Te Pāti Māori’s responded to serious allegations.

Multiple agencies called in to discuss Te Pāti Māori claims

We’ve talked a bit already in The Bulletin about the serious allegations regarding misuse of census data being made against Te Pāti Māori, and how the party has responded. If you need a quick explainer (and some analysis), the Herald’s Claire Trevett wrote about the situation before the weekend. On Friday, the Public Service Commission called in 11 agencies – including the Ministry of Health, Oranga Tamariki and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – to discuss the allegations and how to respond. Andrea Vance at The Post broke the initial story and has been doggedly following it in the days since. According to her latest report, while a full scale inquiry has yet to be announced, acting public service commissioner Heather Baggott described the claims as going to “the core of trust and confidence in our public institutions and our democratic processes”. Both Stats NZ and the police have launched initial investigations of their own, but some, like Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan, have argued for a more substantive inquiry. 

How the party has responded so far

Te Pāti Māori itself called for a police investigation, reported the Herald, effectively saying it will show there was no wrongdoing. The party has maintained its innocence, calling the allegations “baseless and simply untrue”. Te Pāti Māori president John Taimhere, himself in the spotlight due to his role with the Waipareira Trust named in the allegations, called for “the journalist [Vance] to front with the evidence on behalf of those making the allegations” and said an investigation into the party would “highlight the bias in media”. Appearing on Newshub’s AM last week, Labour MP Willie Jackson agreed the claims against Te Pāti Māori had to be looked into, but also appeared to question the media interest in the story. “A lot of Māori media particularly have been talking to me, they're saying where is the same level of scrutiny of the National Party and Act Party who’ve got donors lining up at the door.”

National MP referred to police over undeclared donations

Talk about timing, because Jackson’s comments came just hours before it was confirmed National MP David MacLeod would be referred to police over his undeclared donations. It’s of little surprise, given the amount of money that the rookie New Plymouth MP failed to disclose – over $170,000. Newstalk ZB’s political correspondent Barry Soper said there are “a lot of questions to be answered”, especially given the donors involved, noting a statement from Greenpeace’s Russel Norman linking MacLeod’s former role on the select committee scrutinising the fast track bill and an undeclared donation from a major shareholder in a seabed mining company. Meanwhile, thousands marched against the fast track bill over the weekend, as 1News reported. We’ve previously talked about the controversy over the law, but I recommend this useful explainer on why people took to the streets by The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias.

Act’s culture in the spotlight

The Act Party is facing controversy as well, though it spent much of yesterday pretending it wasn’t. The party held a sold out rally in central Auckland, with leader David Seymour revealing his election goal for 2026: 15% of the party vote (a bit less than double its 2023 result). RNZ’s Giles Dexter summarised the event, which included speeches from several of the party’s MPs along with broadcaster turned gin mogul Paul Henry. But while unmentioned on stage, the party is facing questions over an alleged culture problem. Stuff’s Tova O’Brien broke the story on Friday, following it up on Saturday with reports the party may have asked volunteers to put up election billboards before they were legally allowed to. Asked to comment yesterday, Seymour told reporters his party’s election campaign was “positive”, though admitted "there were some people who thought there were parts of the culture they didn't enjoy”. O’Brien’s written more on this today, looking at Seymour’s pledge to improve the party’s culture. An internal Act report (likely to stay private) included 36 recommendations to how to run a better campaign. "I suspect we'll adopt almost all of them,” said Seymour.

A good day in the capital

Thank you to everyone who supported The Spinoff Welly 500 over the last couple of weeks. Not only did we reach our target in record time, but the additional donations and messages of support make it possible for us to sustain and grow our work in Wellington. You can check out our recent Welly coverage here.

A new rich lister at the top

The annual NBR rich list has a new leader: the Mowbray family. The Zuru founders have an estimated wealth of $20bn in the 2024 list, outpacing Graeme Hart who has been the country’s wealthiest person for two decades. In this year’s list, Hart’s wealth has been estimated at $12.1bn (that’s still 12x the first division prize in the weekend’s must win Lotto draw). NBR subscribers can access the full list here. The Todd family come in third, while others in the top 10 include Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, and Rod Drury. The NBR’s Hamish McNicol has written about the new rich list leaders here.

The PM returns home, but faces new challenges

While all of the aforementioned political controversies were dominating the media, the prime minister was out of the country. The Post’s Glenn McConnell has written some excellent coverage of Christopher Luxon’s pacific tour, including this reported feature from Niue. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Luxon either. On Friday, he was blindsided by the news that Australia would be doubling down on the controversial 501 deportee scheme, reported the Herald’s Claire Trevett. “We regret the decision that Australia has made,” Luxon told reporters. Across the ditch, the Australian opposition accused the Anthony Albanese government of caving to pressure from Jacinda Ardern over the previous softening of the deportation law, as Sky News reported. We’ll likely hear more about this issue today, but for a human account of the deportation policy, I recommend this 2018 Spinoff feature by Don Rowe.

Meanwhile, Luxon’s also likely to face questions over a new Ipsos poll that reveals some of the challenges facing the government, such as rising concern over crime. Newshub’s Amelia Wade reported on that last night. And expect more on the government’s decision to end the ban on new oil and gas exploration announced yesterday. Richard Harman looks at that for Politik (paywalled).

Listen: A new episode of The Fold

William Terite has been fascinated by the news since Barbara Dreaver showed up at his primary school. He started working at Newstalk ZB at 17, and got his dream job at Newshub at just 20. Now a veteran of 23, he has a new role at the revitalised Pacific Media Network, hosting its flagship Pacific Mornings show. He joins Duncan Greive to talk about all he's been through in a short span.

Click and Collect

• More than two decades after Scott Watson was found guilty of murdering friends Olivia Hope and Ben Smart, his conviction returns to court this week, writes Mike White for Sunday Star-Times.

• In case you’ve missed Marc Daalder’s excellent reporting on air pollution for Newsroom, here is a piece he wrote last week that’s worth a read.

• Something I also missed last week was that David Seymour, while acting prime minister, had reaffirmed his support for a Green member’s bill to restore citizenship for Western Sāmoans. Here’s a piece from the Samoa Observer on Seymour’s comments.

• Auckland trains are running at lower capacity this week due to industrial action.

• Newstalk ZB’s Jordan Dunn looks at Auckland’s boarding house challenges, including more than 40 operating illegally.

• The government quietly announced an exception to its unceremonious scrapping of the first home grant on Friday. Stuff explains whether you could still access the support.

• Remember when the PM was under fire over his “entitlement” to claim financial support for his Wellington apartment? The Post’s Andrea Vance reports this morning on the first term MP living 58km from parliament and claiming $36,400 for his own Wellington apartment.

• I spent much of the weekend listening to Charli XCX’s new album, Brat. It’s as good as this Pitchfork review claims. 

• Another music festival has been cancelled as the country’s live entertainment industry continues to struggle, writes Chris Schulz for Boiler Room. 

Xzibit’s hip-hop music festival has been cancelled.

Right now on The Spinoff

Joel MacManus argues that Wellington desperately needs the Golden Mile upgrade for his latest Windbag column. The future of Aotearoa is entwined with the future of Māori, writes Liam Rātana. Duncan Greive chats to Phil Spencer, the icon behind Location, Location, Location, about his new show filmed in New Zealand. An incredibly funny Alex Casey travel diary as she spends a weekend in Melbourne without her smart phone. For the Sunday Essay, Alex Smith writes on the comfort we can find in co-opting uncharitable descriptions of ourselves. And Dai Henwood looks back on his most memorable TV moments, including a traumatic Taskmaster task, a cursed celebrity interview and a slippery zoo escape scandal for My Life in TV.

That’s it for The Bulletin today, thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

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