Hidden camera
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is “hugely frustrated” information which should have been considered before Wally Haumaha was promoted to deputy police commissioner is being “drip fed” after the appointment was made.
Her comments came after an ongoing Herald investigation into the promotion yesterday revealed three women working on a joint project walked out of Police National Headquarters because of alleged bullying by Haumaha.
The policy analysts, two from the Justice Ministry, one from Corrections, were based at PNHQ in Wellington working in the Ma¯ ori, Pacific, Ethnic Services division run by Haumaha, a superintendent at the time. The cross-sector project aimed to improve “justice outcomes” for Ma¯ori.
Alleged verbal bullying contributed to the women leaving PNHQ in June 2016, feeling “devalued and disillusioned”. The trio told their managers, did not return to PNHQ, and continued working on the project from the Justice Ministry offices.
Haumaha did not respond to a request for comment.
The investigation dominated Question Time in Parliament yesterday, with two senior ministers, Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins, saying the inquiry into the appointment would be wide enough to consider the bullying allegations.
Robertson also said the chief executives of the Justice Ministry and Corrections, Andrew Bridgman and Ray Smith respectively, would be asked how the bullying allegations were handled.
Under questioning in Parliament by National MP Chris Bishop yesterday, Police Minister Stuart Nash confirmed the “Wally” he mentioned in a Facebook video post about lifting weights was Haumaha.
“Peeni Henare, Wally and Alf — Just calling out those who doubted. All in the name of trying to keep the ageing body in sort shape,” Nash posted in April, referring to fellow MPs and Haumaha.
Nash said he did not lift weights with Haumaha and they did not have a personal relationship.
The comment was “odd”, said Bishop. “I certainly think it’s strange you’ve got the minister calling out on social media someone who is now the Deputy Commissioner of Police.”
Ardern declined to comment on Nash’s Facebook banter.
“I’m hugely frustrated to be in a situation where an appointment has been made and now we’re having information being drip-fed out, which should have been made available at the time of the appointment,” she said.
The Cabinet is still considering candidates to head the inquiry after the original reviewer, some of Pauline Kingi, resigned last week amid Herald revelations she had endorsed Haumaha 23 times on LinkedIn. Haumaha’s links to New Zealand First have also dogged the inquiry — overseen by Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin, a NZ First MP — although the PM has downplayed any suggestions of a conflict of interest.
One of the three women who walked out now plans to make a formal complaint about Haumaha’s alleged behaviour. She said the trio had raised the matter with their respective managers, she was never asked to make a formal complaint, and the women had believed their managers would handle that.
Conflicting accounts have emerged about what followed. Corrections said there was no record of alleged bullying.
“Issues were raised” about the management of the project, according to the Justice Ministry.
“The issues around behaviour were raised at the highest level between the acting chief executive of the ministry, Audrey Sonerson, and Deputy Commissioner of Police Mike Clement,” said deputy chief executive Colin Lynch. “The ministry expected police to follow up this issue appropriately.”
And the police say an allegation of bullying was made to Clement by a “third party, external to all agencies”. “Clement immediately made contact with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Corrections to request more information and advise that the staff involved could make a complaint if they wished.”
But with no formal complaint, or more information, the matter could go no further.
HFor video go to nzherald.co.nz Remote-controlled cameras hidden in shampoo bottles have been used to film female guests showering in a Hawke’s Bay homestay, a judge has been told in Hastings District Court. The man made 219 recordings of 34 women, mostly aged under 30, in less than three months before he was exposed in February, and on Wednesday pleaded guilty to 51 charges before Judge Geoff Rea. He also admitted seven charges each of knowingly making objectionable publications, and of knowingly distributing objectionable publications, and four of publishing an intimate visual recording. The judge reluctantly granted interim name suppression pending sentencing in Napier District Court in October.