Death threat, conflict claims and an 850-home subdivision: The row engulfing Matt Doocey

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Cabinet minister Matt Doocey is under fire for voting for the Fast-track Approvals Bill, which included an 850-home Ōhoka housing development driven by his cousin, Tim Carter.

Doocey alleges an opposition campaign has weaponised online misinformation, targeted his family, and resulted in a police-referred death threat.

The minister rejects claims of wrongdoing, stating he has no financial stake in the project and has strictly followed Cabinet Office rules and Parliament’s Standing Orders to manage the conflict.

Opponents argue public confidence is at stake, pointing to Doocey's vote and an $81,000 donation made by the Carter Group to the National Party.

The Waimakariri District Council - which has already rejected the rural subdivision twice - continues to oppose the project.

A controversial North Canterbury subdivision is exposing deep divisions in Matt Doocey's electorate, with the Cabinet minister alleging a campaign of abuse while opponents say they are raising legitimate questions about public confidence and conflicts of interest. Nadine Roberts reports.

Cabinet minister Matt Doocey says a campaign against him over his cousin's proposed North Canterbury subdivision has escalated to a police-referred death threat, as he rejects fresh claims he mishandled a conflict of interest by voting for the Fast-track Approvals Bill.

Doocey's comments follow a heated public meeting with residents opposed to an 850-home subdivision proposed for Ōhoka by Rolleston Industrial Developments Ltd, a subsidiary of Carter Group, which is owned by his cousin, Tim Carter.

The area is known for its large residential sections, equestrian properties and rural character. Census data suggests it is relatively affluent, with higher-than-average incomes and education levels compared with New Zealand as a whole.

The development was previously rejected twice by the Waimakariri District Council and independent commissioners, but has since been included in Schedule 2 of the Government's Fast-track Approvals Act, allowing it to apply through the fast-track consenting process.

The proposal comes as Waimakariri, like many regions in New Zealand, continues to experience rapid population growth and increasing demand for housing. The district council has planned for up to 17,000 additional homes in the next 30 years to accommodate that growth, but where those homes should be built has become a contentious issue.

At Friday's public meeting in Swannanoa, Doocey – who is also the Waimakariri MP – faced repeated questions from frustrated residents over his decision to vote for the Fast-track Approvals Bill, which included the Ōhoka development in Schedule 2, despite his declared family connection to the developer.

Doocey rejected any suggestion he had acted inappropriately.

“The Ōhoka community knows the developer Tim Carter is my cousin and, as a Cabinet minister, I am following advice from the Cabinet Office relating to the proper management of real, perceived or potential conflicts of interest,” he told Stuff.

“My voting record in Parliament is publicly available and I have followed Parliament's Standing Orders for managing conflicts of interest in the House at all times.”

In 2022, when locals’ concerns about the development first emerged, Doocey said he did not believe he had a conflict of interest because he held no financial stake in Carter Group.

At the time he also said Ōhoka was not somewhere he would have chosen for a development of that scale. He said his view remains unchanged.

“My position on the Ōhoka development, including my submission opposing the plan change, is publicly available and has been widely reported in the media. Nothing has changed, yet some members of the Ōhoka community have continued a campaign to discredit me for political purposes.”

Doocey said the campaign had involved “misinformation online, derogatory comments about my family and a death threat that was referred to police, which I believe is all connected”.

Resident Róisín Magee, who opposes the development, rejected any suggestions that questioning Doocey's conduct amounted to a personal attack.

Following Friday's meeting, Magee wrote in a social media post that raising Doocey's voting record and the Carter Group's $81,000 donation to the National Party in 2025 was about public confidence in the fast-track process, not politics.

“The poor management of Doocey's conflict allows us to argue that, because of the serious impact on public confidence, the development should not remain in Schedule 2 unless the Government can publicly demonstrate how conflicts were managed and why the project was listed despite the previous expert findings against it.

“This isn't about saying nobody should ever build houses here. The issue is that this is the wrong place for a development of this scale. There are other locations that can accommodate housing growth without fundamentally changing the character of an established rural village.”

She said the settlement lacked the infrastructure to support such a development.

“Most people would have to rely on cars for absolutely everything. The roads are already under pressure, we're on private water supplies and this is still very much a rural community. The infrastructure that would be needed doesn't exist,” Magee said.

Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon said the council's position had not changed.

“The council believes projects that have already been declined through the Resource Management Act process should not be eligible for consideration under the fast-track process.

“The council will continue to oppose it.”

The case for development

At an independent hearings panel before the Waimakariri District Council in 2023, Tim Carter said the proposal would help address long-term housing demand in the Waimakariri district by providing about 850 homes in a master-planned development with parks, walking and cycling connections, community facilities and areas of open space.

Carter argued the development had been designed to retain Ōhoka's village character while creating a range of housing options for different households, and said the project would generate economic benefits, including construction jobs and increased spending in the local area.

He refuted claims the development could not be appropriately serviced with infrastructure, saying issues such as transport, stormwater, flooding, ecology and water supply could be managed through the proposed design and conditions.

Last week a Carter Group spokesperson said the proposal was not declined because of flooding, water supply, wastewater or other servicing issues.

“The independent commissioners accepted that the development could be serviced, that flooding effects could be appropriately managed, that the landscape effects were acceptable and that the proposal would provide significant ecological enhancements.”

According to the Carter Group, the key issue identified by the commissioners related to transport capacity under the planning legislation in force at the time.

“Since then, further work has been completed on transport and intersection upgrades.”

The spokesperson said the fast-track process is not a guarantee of approval.

“It is an independent process where all of the evidence will be considered by an expert panel operating at arm's length from both the Government and the council.

“Like any major development, the proposal will only proceed if that panel is satisfied it meets the requirements of the legislation.”