Original research & coverage by @kehetauhauaga

 

Discrepancies have been found between a series of responses by Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta, to written Parliamentary questions by members of the Opposition, and other official public documents. These are specifically on the topic of the appointment of her sister Tipa Mahuta to the Chair of the Maori Advisory Group to 3 Waters, the appointment process itself and the possible conflict of interest that creates. Nanaia Mahuta has been adamant to date that any conflict of interest has been properly managed.

A comparison of her responses to those written questions with documents prepared by Government officials reveals several mismatches and raises more questions on the issue.

Background

Readers of The Daily Examiner’s article series “All In The (Mahuta) Family” will recall the close family ties that were highlighted in the first article in the series and summarised in an accompanying graphic. That article included the appointment of Nanaia Mahuta’s sister Tipa Mahuta to the chair position of Te Puna, the Maori Advisory Group to Taumata Arowai or 3 Waters (the new water services regulator for New Zealand).

The following graphic is a modification of that first illustration and highlights the specific relationship that is the topic of this article.

 

Following coverage in independent media of the various Mahuta family appointments, New Zealand Opposition Party MPs submitted several written questions in Parliament to Nanaia Mahuta, requesting her clarification of pertinent details. Mahuta had initially responded to a question put to her by independent media with the following statement,

“The Minister has had no involvement in the appointment of family members. Any questions about appointments should be directed to the agencies responsible for those appointments. The Minister ensures that no conflict exists or appears to exist between her personal interests and portfolio responsibilities, in accordance with the guidance in the Cabinet Manual. Where the Minister is aware that family members have been considered for roles, the Minister has informed Cabinet Office and delegated responsibility to other Ministers.”

(emphasis added)

 

Following the receipt of responses to the first set of written questions, Opposition MPs have submitted further questions to pursue missing details.

 

Responses To Initial Written Questions

Mahuta is known to have transferred the authority for appointment of the Chair of Te Puna to her Cabinet colleague Kelvin Davis prior to the event. 

 

Involvement In Shortlisting Candidates

The candidate information sheet produced by the Department of Internal Affairs outlined 4 steps of the appointment process which took place before a candidate recommendation was made to Mahuta: shortlist, disclosure of conflicts & interests, interviews, due diligence. The document states that the Minister of Local Government, i.e. Nanaia Mahuta, is the responsible Minister for appointment of members to Te Puna.

The first step of the process requires Mahuta to be part of the selection of a shortlist of candidates for interviews. The document states,

“Shortlisting of applications – the Department of Internal Affairs and Minister will select candidates for interviews.”

It would appear that Mahuta was involved in this step of the appointment process.

 

Shortlist Decided Prior To Close Of Nominations

The document states that nominations closed on 1 March 2022. This is presumably a typographical error and has been assumed to be 1 March 2021.

 

In a response to a question on preparation of the shortlist, Mahuta states that the shortlist was finalised by December 2020, as part of the appointment process as shown above. 

It is notable that the shortlist was arrived at 2-3 months prior to the close of nominations.

 

Timing Of Transfer Of Power Of Appointment

Mahuta then transferred the power of appointment to Kelvin Davis on 24 February 2021. She stated that she was not thereafter consulted. 

Note that the transfer of power of appointment took place on 24 February 2021. Mahuta appears to have been part of the finalisation of the candidate shortlist in December 2020.

Question Of Presence At 12 May Appointment Meeting

Tipa Mahuta’s role was confirmed by the Cabinet Appointment and Honours (APH) committee on 12 May 2021 and Nanaia Mahuta has confirmed that she was not present in that meeting. She states in her response that the appointment was delegated to Kelvin Davis.

 

Mahuta further states that she was not aware of the appointment prior to its public announcement on 20 May 2021.

 

It is interesting then that her Cabinet Diary clearly shows an entry for 12 May 2021, for the Cabinet Appointment and Honours Committee (APH CAB) meeting at 9.30am. The meeting is shown as having taken place at the Beehive.

 

There is an identical entry in Kelvin Davis’s Diary for the same day, so Mahuta could claim her Diary was simply incorrect, or that it was a standing entry that had been neglected and thus once again, incorrect.

The researcher has searched the diaries of other standing members of the APH CAB Committee and almost all of them show the same entry. Where the others have not attended the meeting, their diaries have all shown other entries.

The researcher has also examined the previous diary entry for Mahuta, the 8.30am Ministerial meeting which was also at the Beehive. Her attendance at that meeting is confirmed in the corresponding diary entry for Jacinda Ardern. Most of the attendees at that meeting were also shown to be at the next, the APH CAB meeting, at 9.30am. It would be entirely unsurprising for such meetings to be scheduled adjacent to each other for efficiency, as the attendees would simply remain in the same meeting room after the earlier meeting. In fact, Ardern was at both meetings and also chaired the APH meeting. 

So was Mahuta really absent from that 12 May appointments meeting?

 

Tipa Mahuta Advising The Board of 3 Waters, Or Nanaia Mahuta

The Maori Advisory Group for 3 Waters is supposed to advise the Board of 3 Waters, not the Minister. This is listed as one of the mitigations for the appointment of Tipa Mahuta to the Maori Advisory Group.

Nanaia Mahuta is shown as having had a virtual meeting with Karen Poutasi, the Chair of the Board of 3 Waters on 21 April 2022.

 

Upon being questioned about the attendees of that meeting, Mahuta reveals that her sister Tipa Mahuta was present at that meeting in her capacity as Chair of the Maori Advisory Group.

Thus it appears that Tipa Mahuta was directly advising the Minister. It may also be relevant that Nanaia Mahuta’s diary entry does not mention the attendees other than the Chair of 3 Waters, that the existence of the other attendees required a written question to be revealed.

Another mitigation against the conflict of interest is supposed to be a deputy Chair for the Maori Advisory Group. If so, then why was the deputy Chair not present at this meeting instead of Tipa?

Notably the 21 April meeting was to discuss Nanaia Mahuta’s Letter of Expectation to Poutasi which states that Nanaia Mahuta expects Poutasi to implement the advice of Te Puna or rather, Tipa Mahuta as revealed a week later. Implementation of this advice is expected “more generally across all areas of work“.

 

Just one week later on 26 April 2022, Tipa Mahuta issues her own Terms of Reference of Te Puna, which sets out her own expectations that she will be the primary conduit for communication between Te Puna and the Minister. This is rather different to Nanaia Mahuta’s response to Question #16450, where she states that Te Puna would be advising the Board of 3 Waters and not the Minister.

 

Ironically, the Terms of Reference of Te Puna contains a section on managing conflicts of interest and also perceived conflicts of interest.

 

Follow-Up

Unsurprisingly, the further questions raised by Nanaia Mahuta’s responses to written questions, remain as yet unanswered. Opposition MPs have an extensive follow-up list of questions on this specific issue, responses to many of which are now due.