This is Part 7 of The Daily Examiner’s article series on Labour Minister Nanaia Mahuta & the close involvement of members of her family in NZ’s government. 

Previous coverage of this topic has focused on singular aspects of the involvement of various Mahuta family members in powerful government advisory positions and contracts they have been awarded. However the question has not been asked, why?

Why go to all this effort of placing related parties in these positions for what appears to be relatively small amounts of money, such as has been covered in Part 3 of our article series? As far as our researchers have been able to uncover, approximately $100k in consulting contracts has been awarded to Ka Awatea Services (owned by Gannin Ormsby, Minister Mahuta’s husband), Kawai Catalyst Ltd (owned by Gannin Ormsby’s relatives Tamoko & Waimirirangi Ormsby) and Waimirirangi Ormsby as an individual, by the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Maori Development.

In this article we draw on the information revealed in our entire article series to date, with some additional research, to reveal the true reach and influence a key individual now holds, and hopefully answer that question.

Ka Awatea – Where It All Began

In 2020, while New Zealand and the world was exclusively focused on a terrifying new virus sweeping the globe and entire populations willingly handed over enormous emergency powers to their governments, a series of company transactions was taking place that would set the ball rolling.

This involved a firm called Global Metal Solutions (GMS), owned by Craig Vernon Tuhoro, Robyn Blake, Roger Wilson and entities controlled by them. GMS is a metal recycling business based in Hamilton. Ka Awatea Services began life as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GMS.

This is the series of events that led to Gannin Ormsby eventually being the sole director & shareholder of Ka Awatea Services:

• On 7 July 2020,
  • 20% of Ka Awatea Services was transferred to Gannin Ormsby who then also became a director of the company.
  • At the same time, GMS transferred the remaining 80% to its own individual shareholders, and thus exited the Ka Awatea share register.
  • GMS shareholder Roger Wilson became a director of Ka Awatea. Craig Tuhoro was already a director and remained so.

• 3 days later on 10 July 2020, then Associate Minister for the Environment Nanaia Mahuta, her husband Gannin Ormsby and the local Labour MP opened the Auckland facilities of Global Metal Solutions in a formal ceremony. The MP Anahila Kanongataa-Suisuiki posted a 20-minute video of the event on her social media page. Gannin Ormsby & Nanaia Mahuta can clearly been seen in the video.

• On 24 or 26 September 2020, the 80% of Ka Awatea not owned by Gannin Ormsby was transferred to him, making him 100% owner. The other directors also exit, leaving him sole director of the company.

Oravida Again?

Parallels can once again be drawn here for the attendance at the GMS Auckland event by Nanaia Mahuta, and the Oravida incident with Judith Collins. If Collins’ involvement was investigated so thoroughly by a judge and she was stood down from her portfolios during the investigation, why has the same treatment not been applied to Mahuta?

Mahuta may claim that Gannin Ormsby was not involved in GMS at the time of the event. However, the Ka Awatea transaction that took place a mere 3 days prior to the GMS event, closely involving all the shareholders of GMS and handing 20% of Ka Awatea to Ormsby, should arguably be cause for closer scrutiny.

More important, these transactions end up positioning Gannin Ormsby as the lynchpin figure of the waste industry in the Waikato.

Lord Of Waste

Waste and its management are essential elements of human habitation. Where there is human activity, there is always some form of waste generated, whether that is a result of human activity (industrial or household waste) or human existence (sewage). Thus control of the waste and water industries is critical – what happens to it, how much of it is allowed, where it goes, which entities are allowed to participate, and ultimately where taxpayer funds flow.

Major industry decisions, such as the construction of a new waste-to-energy plant in the Waikato, need to be run past a series of industry decision-makers, obtaining input from various sources. The following generic diagram is illustrative of such a process, which ultimately controls the industry:

The previous articles in our series detail Gannin Ormsby’s appointment to or involvement in many advisory roles to the government, all related to the waste or water industries:

• Part 1 showed the close family ties;
• Part 3 showed the consulting fees paid to Ka Awatea & Kawai Catalyst;
• Parts 2 & 4 showed the deep involvement in key iwi agreements with the Crown, namely the Waiwaia Accord and associated management of the Waipa River;
• Part 5 showed the closed procurement process run by the Ministry for the Environment;
• Part 6 showed the controlling links between local government and 3 waters.

Putting these together along with a new proposed waste-to-energy plant for the Waikato, owned by Global Metal Solutions’ subsidiary, Global Contracting Solutions, results in the following diagram:

Project Amio

Project Amio was found in the OIA responses received from the Ministry for the Environment, which was used as source material for Part 5 of our article series detailing the closed procurement process for the expert Maori panel advising on the national waste strategy.

The significance of the team’s composition is however not evident until combined with the formation of Ka Awatea Services and subsequent information of the proposed waste-to-energy plant. We note that both Craig Tuhoro and Roger Wilson are on this team.

Global Metal Solutions’ Te Awamutu Waste-To-Energy Plant

News of the plant broke in late April this year, although the resource consent application for the plant was lodged in early December 2021.  The financial scale of the project is significant – Waikato Times media coverage of the project states,

“Nearly $120 million in activity is expected during construction, along with ongoing multi-million dollar annual economic benefits.”

A Waikato Times article dated 20 April also shows opposition from 3 related “environmental groups”, Zero Waste Network, Para Kore and Go Eco.

Of note is that Jacqui Forbes, co-founder of Para Kore with Gannin Ormsby, is also on the board of Zero Waste Network.

 

Another Waikato Times article dated 19 June reports on a request by the opponents of the project to the Minister for the Environment to personally intervene.

Conclusion

The Ministry for the Environment has announced a formal review into the procurement process for the expert Maori panel advising on the national waste strategy, following Opposition MPs written parliamentary questions into the matter.

As has been laid out in this article, that procurement process is only a single aspect of the bigger network of connections that Gannin Ormsby is now central to.

Questions need to be asked as to how a single individual, so closely related to a sitting Minister, has been able to inveigle his way into such a position.

Article Series:

• Part 1 “All In The (Mahuta) Family” was published on 14 May 2022
• Part 2 “All In The (Mahuta) Family – Taxpayer-Funded Empire Over Water” was published on 22 May 2022
• “All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 3 – Follow The Money” was published on 29 May 2022
• “All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 4 – Maniapoto” was published on 5 June 2022
• “All In the (Mahuta) Family Part 5 – The Only Experts” was published on 13 June 2022
• “All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 6 – Changing NZ’s Democracy” was published on 21 June 2022

All research & original coverage credit for Parts 1-4, 6 & this article to Twitter profile @kehetauhauaga, which has been tweeting this since 6 May 2022. Research & original coverage credit for Part 5 to Twitter profile @Record_Factory and @kehetauhauaga.