Staff in Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s electorate office responded to an email accusing former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming of sexual abuse, months before Mitchell claims he first learned of the allegations.
It follows Mitchell repeatedly stating he and his ministerial staff were kept in the dark about the emails at the behest of former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s office.
In a statement, Mitchell said 17 of 36 emails sent to his ministerial office detailing allegations from a woman formerly in a relationship with McSkimming were also sent to Mitchell’s Whangaparāoa electorate office email.
The Herald understands a response was given by an office staffer, also Mitchell’s sister, in January 2024 to an email. The response stated the email related to Mitchell’s ministerial role and would be forwarded to his parliamentary office.
“The correct process was followed, with those emails forwarded to the ministerial inbox for actioning. Electorate Staff are not employed by Ministerial services and do not deal with Ministerial Correspondence,” Mitchell said in his statement this morning.
“I am satisfied that all my team at both electorate and ministerial level have acted appropriately and diligently. No one knew at that stage there were integrity issues with the police executive.”
Mitchell reiterated he first learned of the allegations on November 6, 2024 after being briefed by Coster.
“On being briefed I called a meeting the next day on the 7th of November with the Public Service Commission and the Solicitor General to bring forward my concerns in relation to the situation."
Following the release of a damning Independent Police Conduct Authority report criticising police’s handling of the woman’s complaints, the Herald revealed the emailed allegations had been received by Mitchell’s parliamentary office.
However, Mitchell has claimed neither he nor his staff were aware of them at the direction of Coster’s office.
The process was for police staff in the Beehive to forward emails directly to the then-Commissioner’s office in police headquarters and not share them with the minister or his political staff.
That protocol was outlined in a police memo, seen by the Herald and sent to Mitchell’s office after inquiries were made about why the minister was never made aware of the allegations coming to his email account.
Coster has not responded to previous requests for comment on this issue. A spokesperson said he would not be speaking to media while an employment process is under way between him and the Public Service Commission. He is currently on leave from his role as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency.
Following the revelations, Mitchell’s office wrote to the current Police Commissioner saying it was “important that police can provide this office with some assurances and change their processes accordingly”.
The email, obtained by the Herald, said Mitchell “needs an assurance that previous correspondences addressed to him and referred to Police for action have been actioned appropriately and that the procedure instated by the former Commissioner, and any similar, was limited to just the issue for which it was put in place (and has been stopped)”.
Unless there was a “good explanation for it”, any other practices around where emails on some topics should be sent “should stop”, the email said.
Current Police Commissioner Richard Chambers responded by saying he had not previously been aware of that specific process and called it a “departure” from the norm when dealing with correspondence.
“Ministerial Services have a key role in supporting the Minister’s office and should be the single channel for all correspondence relevant to the interface between Police and the Minister’s office. This includes the role of agency private secretaries whose role it is to provide support to the Minister’s office.”
Chambers said it was “disappointing” to learn staff had been “under instruction to depart from these systems and processes”.
“I apologise to any staff, either in the Minister’s office or Ministerial Services who were put into this unfortunate situation.”
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.