Manurewa Marae, Auckland Photo: LDR / Mary Afemata
- Inquiry report and response were supposed to be released Monday morning
- The Public Service Commission says findings require more time
- The inquiry centres around allegations personal data was misused for election purposes
The findings from an inquiry into whether personal data collected at Manurewa Marae was misused for election purposes have once again been delayed.
On Friday afternoon, the Public Service Commission announced the report, led by Michael Heron KC and Pania Gray, would be released on Monday, along with the Public Service Commissioner's response to the inquiry.
But just two-and-a-half hours later, the Commission said the findings would not be released on Monday after all, saying the findings required more time following feedback from some agencies.
The Commissioner, Sir Brian Roche, said the delay was unfortunate, but it was more important to get the response right.
"The inquiry has been complex, involving six agencies, third-party service providers and findings that will impact all of the public service. Some matters will also require referral to other authorities for further consideration," a statement said.
The inquiry was commissioned by the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the then-Public Service Minister Nicola Willis in June, following allegations Census and Covid-19 vaccination data collected at Manurewa Marae had been misused for Te Pāti Māori's election campaign.
Takutai Tarsh Kemp was the marae's chief executive at the time, and went on to win the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate for Te Pāti Māori, narrowly beating Labour's Peeni Henare by 42 votes.
Te Pāti Māori has strongly rejected the allegations, and welcomed the investigation.
When the inquiry was launched, party president John Tamihere called the allegations "baseless innuendo" and called for "hard evidence rather than speculation".
When announcing the inquiry, Luxon said it would look into the safeguards that government agencies had in place to ensure the appropriate use of people's personal information by third-party providers in the circumstances surrounding the allegations, and whether the safeguards worked.
Agencies included StatsNZ, the Ministry of Health, Health New Zealand, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki, and the Ministry of Social Development. Police were also investigating.
The Public Service Commission said it would announce a new date that its response would be finalised, in the coming weeks.
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