Police unable to say if they are investigating Census data misuse allegations
Thursday, 6 June 2024
It’s not yet clear how wide-ranging inquiries into allegations about the misuse of personal data for election campaigning will be, as politicians and government agencies tiptoed around the claims yesterday.
Stats NZ, the official data agency, last week launched an investigation into claims that census forms collected by Manurewa Marae were used to help Te Pāti Māori's election campaign. The party’s president, John Tamihere, has denied this.
On Wednesday The Post revealed the Labour Party made a complaint to the Electoral Commission in November about the alleged misuse of cell phone numbers collected to communicate with Auckland Māori about the pandemic immunisation programme.
Almost eight months ago, the Commission referred a complaint to police about a potential breach of electoral law, relating to text messages which did not carry an authorisation statement.
But the Commission did not alert the Ministry of Health, Te Whatu Ora, Ministry for Social Development nor the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about Labour’s allegations about a misuse of data.
The party had raised concerns that the four-digit ‘short code’ used for Te Pāti Māori text message was the same as that used by the Waipareira Trust to send out Covid-19 vaccination messages. The trust is also headed by Tamihere.
None of these agencies have opened an investigation.
Stats NZ confirmed it has hired former State Services Deputy Commissioner Doug Craig, now of the RDC Group, to lead its inquiry.
Chief executive Mark Sowden said the agency was taking the allegations very seriously and his findings would be shared with police “who are also investigating”.
However, The Post is unable to confirm whether, or what, police are looking into. A series of questions posed to a team of communication staff have gone unanswered since Tuesday.
“Sorry, I can’t offer any confirmation of timing of response, it’s with subject matter experts to come back to us,” a spokesperson said.
It also took MSD two days to respond to questions. In a statement attributed to Auckland regional commissioner Dan Brunt, the agency confirmed it was not contacted by the Electoral Commission.
“We would be concerned if information was being used for a different purpose than what it was collected for,” he said. “We are not aware of any MSD client information being used improperly.”
Political leaders and ministers sidestepped calling for a full inquiry. However The Post understands discussions are being held at a government and senior public service level about whether the Auditor-General should be asked to investigate.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the allegations were “pretty serious” but stopped short of pushing for an inquiry.
His MP, Peeni Henare, lost the Tāmaki Makaurau seat to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp by just 42 votes in October. At the time, Kemp was Manurewa Marae’s chief executive.
“If there was any improper behaviour and improper conduct, then it is important that we find out what happened there,” he said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said: “They're pretty concerning allegations and serious allegations. It's right that there's an investigation underway, as I understand it. Obviously, it would be inappropriate for me to comment while that investigation is underway.”
ACT leader David Seymour said: “The chief statistician has the statutory responsibility for the use and custody of records in relation to a census.
“They are making that investigation and inquiry. I think, depending on what they find, it may be right for a ministerial or some other kind of official inquiry.”
In a press release, Te Pāti Māori said the allegations were “baseless and simply untrue” and welcomed the Stats NZ investigation.