Andrew Coster, former Police Commissioner, resigned as Social Investment Agency head in December. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Former top cop Andrew Coster in his resignation letter wrote he was “sorry” he wouldn’t be continuing his “journey” at the Social Investment Agency.
Newstalk ZB can reveal the contents of Coster’s resignation letter as head of the agency (SIA), which followed a damning Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the Jevon McSkimming case.
On November 11, when the IPCA report came out confirming top officers ignored allegations around McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, it was confirmed Coster would be placed on leave.
In an email to all Social Investment Agency staff that evening, Coster wrote that in light of the IPCA report, he’d agreed with the Public Service Commissioner to take leave from the SIA “while we work through a process connected with it”.
“I’m sorry to have to step out at this time. Thank you for the amazing work you’re all doing,” Coster wrote in the email he signed off as “Andy”.
Coster was announced as the chief executive of the SIA in September 2024, after about four years as Commissioner of Police.
Further communications, released to Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act, show Coster asking two SIA staff to “keep developments as discussed today under your hat until confirmed”.
He wrote: “Timing looks more likely to be next week. Will keep you posted.”
Coster also wrote to a separate staffer on the same day with similar phrasing: “The timing of all this looks more likely to be next week. I’ll get you to hold off until it’s been announced, lest we start a rumour prematurely.”
The texts were sent in late November.
Coster announced his formal resignation from the Social Investment Agency on December 3.
An all-staff email, released under the OIA, shows Coster’s final words as SIA boss, before his departure.
At roughly 12.30pm on December 3, Coster wrote that it was with “sadness” that he announced his resignation as Secretary for Social Investment, which he stated was effective from December 1.
He also attached press releases from himself and from the Public Service Commissioner, “so you can understand the background to this decision”.
Coster thanked his staff at the SIA, saying it had been “an absolute pleasure and privilege” to work on such important kaupapa.
“I have been incredibly impressed by the quality of the people we have in the organisation and your willingness to go above and beyond to deliver on the challenging work programme we have had,” he added.
Coster finished his letter with an apology: “I’m sorry that I won’t be continuing this journey with you. However, I will watch with interest as you continue to pursue better outcomes for all New Zealanders.”
He signed off with kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui, and the colloquial “Andy”.
A separate email from Coster, sent at 2.31pm on the same day, contained similar wording and was sent to the Social Investment Board.
The letter to the board reiterated that it had been a privilege to work on this “important kaupapa”.
“Thank you for your wisdom shared and important input that continues [to] shape the work of social investment. As you all appreciate better than I do, this is an incredibly important opportunity for New Zealand, and I’m sorry that I won’t be continuing this journey with you,” he wrote.
Coster expressed thanks to board members, saying: “I’ve valued our conversations and the forthright perspective each of you has brought to assist the agency in its work. We are the better for it.”
In a press statement on the day of his resignation, Coster added his decision to resign from the agency was “acceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings identified in the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s review of the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming during my tenure as Commissioner of Police”.
He said he regretted the impact on the young woman at the centre of the matter, and that he had been “too ready to trust and accept at face value Deputy Commissioner McSkimming’s disclosure and explanations to me”.
“It is clear that police’s handling of the whole matter was lacking and that I was ultimately responsible for those matters,” Coster said at the time.
In an interview with Newstalk ZB about Coster’s resignation, Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said Coster “did the right thing and I respect him for that”.
“I think his resignation shows a high degree of humility and acceptance.”
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.