Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson has received a scathing letter from the Māori Council alleging, among other things, that he is acting unlawfully and breaching the legislation he is supposed to be upholding.
The letter follows a Newsroom story about a letter he received from a group calling itself Te Roopu Tautoko, attacking the legitimacy of the Māori Council’s elections with a list of over 50 names attached.
At the top of the list was Matthew Tukaki, a government advisor to Minister for Children Kelvin Davis, who was voted out of his positions in the last elections of the Māori Council. But Newsroom spoke to five people who said they were not aware of the letter and did not give permission for their names to be used on it.
In response the co-chairs Harvey Ruru and George Ngatai-Mathieson and deputy chair Anne Kendall have written a detailed eight-page letter to Jackson, laying out the council’s position and accusing Jackson of backing an attempt to undermine the council and its processes.
The letter says: “The NZMC has received complaints about the conduct of the 2021 triennial elections from people not listed as members of the so called Te Roopu Tautoko. These complaints have been raised through the proper channel and will need to be investigated and determined in accordance with the NZMC’s procedure. However, these complaints relate predominantly to the behaviour of people listed as members of the so-called Te Roopu Tautoko.”
It says the complaints are detailed and backed up by evidence, in contrast to the allegations made by the Te Roopu Tautoko group.
The letter goes on to say that after losing their positions on the council in the last elections, two individuals – Matt Tukaki and Raewyn Harrison – took an unsuccessful challenge over the elections to the High Court. (Instead, the High Court said complaints about the elections should be resolved by the council’s processes laid out in its legislation.) The Māori Council said the letter to Jackson from Te Roopu Tautoko – headed by Tukaki – was an attempt to circumvent the court’s decision and the council’s processes.
“When Mr Tukaki and Ms Harrison failed to have the High Court stop the NZMC from resolving the election issues in accordance with its internal processes, they wrote again to you under the guise of the so-called Te Roopu Tautoko. While saying that you supported NZMC’s autonomy, you urged NZMC to breach its procedures to accommodate the wishes of Mr Tukaki. You also withheld our funding, preventing us from conducting our own processes. From our perspective, it appears that at every stage you have been doing Mr Tukaki’s bidding and have been attempting to interfere with the lawful conduct by the NZMC of its own business.”
The Māori Council suggested that Jackson’s involvement in an earlier dispute over elections in 2015 was clouding his judgment.
“On 5 September 2015, the issue of the unlawful elections in the Auckland District Māori Council came before the NZMC. At that time, you were a member of the NZMC and attended that meeting. In a split decision, the NZMC voted to accept the Auckland election. That decision was later overturned by a subsequent NZMC meeting after the High Court found that the Auckland elections had been unlawful. We understand that you supported upholding those unlawful elections, including turning a blind eye to the unlawful behaviour of people now listed as members of the so called Te Roopu Tautoko.”
The letter says the withholding of funds by the minister was also affecting the council’s ability to operate. It alleges money was shifted out of its accounts by people who didn’t have authority. The allegations are now the subject of a police complaint by the Māori Council.
As well as the letter from the national co-chairs, Jackson has also received a number of letters from branches of the Māori Council. The branches were responding to allegations by the Te Roopu Tautoko group that there were irregularities in their elections. All of the branches that have written to the minister – which includes Taitokerau, Wellington, Te Arawa, Takitimu, and Raukawa – have strongly disputed the allegations, saying there are no specifics or evidence. They also point out that many of the people listed in the Te Roopu Tautoko letter were not aware that their name was being used.
Jackson’s spokesperson told Newsroom: “The minister has received the letter and is considering a response.
“We continue to engage with all relevant parties and as the minister has previously stated – I continue to encourage interested parties to engage with one another to ensure all voices from Māori Associations who want to be heard can be heard.”
