Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Grant Duncan: Political commentator on the potential misuse of Census data by Te Pāti Māori

Transcript

Grant Duncan: Political commentator on the potential misuse of Census data by Te Pāti Māori · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I predicted yesterday we got the trigger pulled on the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: independent investigation by the Public Service Commission into the Maory
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Party Mariah allegations. We also have just if you've lost count,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a police investigation, the Stats of New Zealand and investigation,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Electoral Commission and Privacy Commission investigation as well, so count's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: five investigations. Political scientist Grant Duncan is with us on this. Grant,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: very good morning to you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Good morning mine.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of investigations. Is this because it's very
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: serious or they're all covering their bases?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, a bit of both, I would say, and so
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: it's probably just as well that the Public Services Commission
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: has been brought and to bring all of this together,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: we hope and get some clarity as to what's gone on.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Talk us through what the Public Service Commission does, who
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: they are, do they have the power to be able
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to do what they need to do?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Potentially, Yes, What the Public Service Commission is really the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: central agency of government that deals with matters to do
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: with employment and as the leader of the public service
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: itself so to speak, So it does have the coordinating
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: role within the public service and it can be given
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the powers to undertake an appropriate kind of independent investigation.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: So they can subpoena, they can dig up evidence, all
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of those sort of things you'd expect them to do.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I believe they can.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, because what we've got here is rules broken
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: allegedly versus laws broken. And does that because of that
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: get a little bit complicated.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Well, the complication is that it seems that the Maria
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: has been used for different purposes in relation to the
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  Speaker 2: census to COVID nineteen as well as acting as an
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  Speaker 2: election polling place. Also particularly the chief executive of the
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  Speaker 2: MARII was also then went on to be a candidate
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  Speaker 2: in the local elections for Tamaki Makoto. And so you
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  Speaker 2: have a number of different functions around the same place,
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  Speaker 2: and some people wearing more than one hat, shall we say,
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  Speaker 2: And of course allegations that census data in particular may
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: have been misused, and that's really serious because that gets
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to the heart of our confidence and the privacy of
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that data.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: It most certainly does. And so if that sort of
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: nefarious activity took place, that's But if you go back
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to the beginning, if you're a Mariah and you know
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Mariah is the center of the community, and they go, look,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: we'll do some census, we'll do some vaccine, and by
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  Speaker 1: the way, why don't we be an a voting point.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: None of that is untoward in and of itself, is it.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Well, it all sounds hunky dory exactly. But the trouble is,
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  Speaker 2: of course that some of these functions allegedly may have
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: gotten mixed up, and particularly possibility of the use of
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: census data for election campaigning and also possibly allegedly for
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: attempting to persuade people to switch from the general to
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the Mali role. All of those questions, of course, should
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: be private, conscientious choices by the individuals concerned, and so
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: this mixing up of census and COVID related functions with
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  Speaker 2: election campaigning, as if the allegations are true, is completely
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: inappropriate exactly.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Grunt appreciate it very much. Grunt duncan political scientists with
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  Speaker 1: us this morning.
• 3:26
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• 3:30
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• 3:32
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