Presumed Innocent?

Allegations against Te Pāti Māori and the elephant in the room.

The blue billionaire
Distraction no interaction
Or movement outside these glazed over eyes
The new great divide

Few fight the tide to be glorified
But will he be satisfied?
Can we accept this without zoom?
The elephant in the room

Not much happens in politics on a Monday. Bugger all in fact. Although yesterday Christopher Luxon found he was so busy he simply didn’t have time to give his parliamentary colleagues in Te Pāti Māori a polite heads up that he was about to throw them under a bus.

Perhaps those who examine the entrails in the polls divined that it was time for him to be decisive.

Haruspex: In the religion of ancient Rome, a haruspex was a person trained to practise a form of divination called haruspicy, the inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep and poultry.

Luxon had repeatedly shown great weakness, a quite glaring lack of leadership, when it came to dealing with other parties’ scandals.

More than once the people of Aotearoa have looked and wondered - what on earth a NZ First MP, or an ACT MP, would have to do to be admonished by the Great Manager.

Had anyone ever done more to mislead caucus, and in doing so the country, than Casey Costello when she oops-a-daisy neglected to include the $46b in benefits that would result from Smokefree programmes in her submission? Presumably because it didn’t fit with the outcome she sought? On that occasion the bloke in charge, Mr Luxon, who is apparently concerned with every penny, did nothing. Nada.

Or Shane Jones. Has there ever been a minister more in need of having the Prime Minister tell them to pull their head in than Jones?

The guys seems to be deliberately antagonising much of the country. Riling up those who oppose what he’s doing rather than simply smiling politely and doing it anyway.

Jones is Winston’s boy, he’s untouchable. But it’s bad news for the likes of Luxon and Bishop who grimace and gurn, pretending these other parties aren’t really their responsibility. Sorry lads - it’s your cabinet, your government - this is your circus, and those are your monkeys.

Yesterday we learned that somewhere on his Pacific sojourn Luxon had rediscovered his mojo, his missing cojones has been located, and now he was ready to finally reveal a backbone. So he rolled up his sleeves and he cast Te Pāti Māori (TPM), guilty until proven otherwise, to the wolves.

I’m not going to speculate as to whether TPM, or anyone associated with them, have done anything wrong. Although I’ll talk hypothetically about such a scenario. What’s really concerning me is that the name of this party is being prematurely dragged through the headlines - and mud sticks.

What I don’t understand is why some get name suppression for heinous crimes they appear almost certainly guilty of, and others hit the headlines without an investigation being completed - their presumption of innocence of no consequence.

As you probably know the accusation has been that TPM misused census data and information from Covid vaccinations for electioneering. It has been heavily publicised that multiple government agencies were already investigating this. Including the Privacy Commissioner, the Electoral Commission, the Police, and Stats NZ.

Te Pāti Māori has strenuously denied claims that it improperly used peoples' personal information collected during the census or Covid vaccine drives. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver.

Apparently all of these other investigations were insufficient for Action Man Luxon. The Prime Minister saying that the allegations “go to the heart of trust and confidence” in our democratic processes. That is indeed something we should be concerned about, more on that in a bit.

When the media asked Luxon why he had not notified TPM before the announcement, and let’s for a moment put down the pitchforks and remember the presumption of innocence, he said “it’s moving quickly”.

I’m not sure what Christopher meant by “it”, perhaps the bus he was throwing TPM beneath? More likely he meant the story was moving quickly without him and he wanted to exert his authority so as to appear relevant.

Sounding more like a reality TV crime show host than the leader of a country Luxon said, “anyone with information should approach Police.”

TPM have welcomed an investigation and rejected the allegations. Party president John Tamihere has asked for evidence, which seems only fair, and described “unsubstantiated sources” as unhelpful.

John Tamihere. Image: NZME.

When you consider that said sources appear to be disgruntled ex employees who are associated with the Tamakis I’d really hate to think that the Prime Minister of our country has acted on that information. Claims emanating from those associated with Destiny seldom seem grounded in fact or reality.

While right wing politicians were queuing up to express their outrage Willie Jackson from the Labour party managed to find some decency on their behalf. Saying on the AM show that the same level of scrutiny should be placed on the National Party after its MP failed to declare almost $180,000 in candidate donations.

He has a point. Although I think a much wider look at how parties are able to target supporters, and the uneven playing field that provides as a foundation to our democracy, is warranted. No, if you’re wondering, I’m not holding my breath.

Before we look at the risk to democracy a few words on privacy.

I’ve heard a couple of people raise concerns about how the people whose details might have been used would feel. Those claims have come from National Party MPs, and while their sudden interest in Māori voters from South Auckland is a welcome change, it’s also rather difficult to take seriously.

The claim is that people, who may be reluctant to deal with officialdom, have had their rights abused - if this did in fact happen.

But I can’t help wondering that if Maori are reluctant to engage with government agencies, if there is a lack of trust, is that really down to concerns that they might receive election advertising from TPM?

Or is it more to do with 184 years of broken promises and being treated as inferior? Not to mention the actions of this coalition government to undermine and belittle efforts to address inequality. Me thinks those privacy loving Nats do protest too much.

During the election campaign did you receive any advertising in your email, in your letter box, or on social media from parties that you hadn’t provided your details to?

Chances are you probably did. Be it a “paid” post on Facebook from a politician you wouldn’t vote for in a million years, or Luxon the Leader hamming it up on TikTok - what’s the difference?

Either way you would have been subjected to political messaging from a party that you didn’t ask for or sign up for. Yet it was delivered to you nonetheless. But there is one really big difference.

Money.

Some parties had an awful lot of it. As we know the parties in coalition attracted $16m from enthusiastic investors to spread their message. I’m not going to speculate as to whether TPM did anything they are being accused of. BUT hypothetically, if they did, from a democratic point of view, not a privacy one, what’s the difference between using a list of contact details or spamming advertising at those who didn’t ask for it?

Yesterday the rich list was announced with a new number one who might’ve been familiar to readers of this newsletter.

Nick Mowbray, pictured, owns Zuru Group along with his brother Mat. RNZ.

I’m far more concerned about the political influence that results from donations by people like Nick Mowbray than I am by whatever may, or may not have, happened at the Manurewa Marae.

I’m more concerned again about the political decisions, be they regulations, or the awarding of future contracts, that might be swayed by such donations.

If you’re not familiar with our richest man you can read about him in this newsletter I wrote last year:

During his announcement yesterday Christopher Luxon expressed concern that the public needed to retain confidence in our democratic process.

I completely agree, I think many of us felt ill at ease as to the influence of big money sponsors in our most recent election. Personally, if you want to check everything is above board and the public can have confidence in our system, I’d start right there.

I’m not talking specifically about the Mowbray family, I mean anyone that has donated or assisted the coalition parties into government. It’s vital that we ensure those individuals, or entities, do not benefit from things like the upcoming Fast Track legislation if the public is to retain confidence.

The allegations of what happened at the Manurewa Marae should absolutely be looked into. The fact is multiple investigations were already under way and Luxon’s move yesterday to announce yet another one seems politically motivated, and not in a defending democracy sense.

So how about we take a deep breath, assume TPM have done nothing illegal unless it’s proven otherwise, and focus on the elephant in the room.

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