Ma¯ ori Party confident on donations

Co-leaders not drawn on police probe

The Ma¯ori Party’s coleadership is confident that all its donations are above board, amid a police probe into their campaign donations. But neither Rawiri Waititi nor Debbie Ngarewa-packer would be drawn on any specifics, telling media yesterday that was a matter for the party’s board.

They were not able, for example, to shed any light on the $120,000 donation from the company Aotearoa Te Kahu.

“You can ask us about policies — but that’s not what we’re here for,” Ngarewa-packer said.

When pressed on the matter, she said: “If you’re investigative journalists you can do [that] work; we can’t do it for you”.

Yesterday was the first time press gallery reporters have had the opportunity to question Waititi and Ngarewa-packer on the donations.

Late last week, the party was referred to the police over undeclared donations of $320,000.

Ma¯ori Party President Che Wilson told RNZ that the mistake lay with party volunteers who were “learning the ropes”.

“We took over a party that had broken down and as part of the rebuild as volunteers when we got into the thick of the campaign we misinterpreted how we had to report things, so we reported them late.

“As soon as we found out about it we made contact but that was when we were doing the final wrap-up of the reporting for the entire election.”

Asked if he had sought assurance that everything was above board, Waititi said “of course”.

“I’m comfortable,” he said when asked about the money.

As well as the $120,000 donation from Aotearoa Te Kahu, questions were also raised about the $50,000 donation from the National Urban Ma¯ori Authority. The authority is a registered charity which runs health and social services.

It is part-funded by the Crownowned North Island Wha¯nau Ora Commissioning Agency.

But the Minister for Wha¯nau Ora, Peeni Henare, said he was confident no taxpayer cash was used in the donations.

“All of the reports I’ve received on the money that’s being spent and the outcomes we’ve achieved have been on the money.

“If there’s any concerns by the police in the investigation then it will come through,” he told RNZ.