Public Service Commission reveals scope of inquiry into data misuse claims

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this week directed the Public Service Commissioner to investigate the “safeguards” in place to ensure personal information is being used appropriately by third parties. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Public Service Commission has revealed the scope of the inquiry into various Government departments’ involvement in accusations of the misuse of private data in last year’s election.

The allegations were first raised in reports by the Sunday Star-Times and The Post. They relate to the alleged misuse of Census data and Covid-19 vaccination information for Te Pāti Māori’s election campaign.

Te Pāti Māori has denied the allegations, called them “frivolous” and welcomed the investigation.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon directed the Public Service Commissioner to investigate the “safeguards” agencies had in place to ensure personal information was being used appropriately by third parties and whether those safeguards worked.

Acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott today released the terms of reference and scope of the inquiry.

“These are very serious allegations that have been strongly denied by the relevant third-party service providers,” Baggott said.

“The allegations go to the heart of trust and confidence in New Zealand’s democratic processes and institutions. It’s important to establish the facts so New Zealanders can trust that when their personal information is collected by government agencies, it is held securely and used only for proper, authorised purposes.”

Former solicitor-general Michael Heron, KC, and Kororā Consulting managing director Pania Gray have been appointed to lead the inquiry.

The inquiry will consider, make findings, and report on:

• the safeguards government agencies had in place to ensure the appropriate use of peoples’ personal information by third-party service providers, and whether those safeguards were effective.
• what relevant personal information was shared with the relevant third-party service providers, and what mechanism was that information shared under.
• what concerns were raised with the government agencies prior to media reporting, and what was done in relation to those concerns.
• whether relevant government agencies had arrangements in place to identify and manage any conflicts of interest of third-party service providers, including perceived conflicts of interest, and whether those were effective.

Baggott last week called together the heads of Stats NZ, the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Internal Affairs, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for a meeting to ensure the allegations were being “thoroughly investigated”.

The agencies within the scope of this investigation are Statistics NZ, the Ministry of Health, Health NZ, Te Puni Kōkiri, Oranga Tamariki, and the Ministry of Social Development.

The third-party service providers within the scope of the inquiry include the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust and Manurewa Marae Trust Board.

Te Pāti Māori has called the claims “baseless and simply untrue”.

“If there is any evidence, then show us so we have a reason to engage in a conversation,” Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said.

“We welcome an immediate investigation into these allegations to once again prove our innocence, and to highlight the bias in media.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.