Reports of the death of Whānau Ora are greatly exaggerated
Change my mind.
If the sum total of one’s knowledge about Whānau Ora, the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency (WOCA), and John Tamihere’s web of organisations was informed by the news reports this morning on government contracts, one would think that the Government had no reasons to put the contracts out to tender, no reason to have concerns about perceptions of integrity at existing agencies, and have given the contracts to a bunch of white blokes in suits.
The New Zealand Herald article was a tale of woe in which Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer spun a yarn alleging discrimination and terrible impacts on Māori.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Whānau Ora was being “dismantled” and that the changes were “a political attack on the very existence of Māori-led solutions”.
“Whānau Ora has consistently outperformed government agencies. It has shown that when Māori lead, Māori thrive. That success should have been recognised and expanded, not gutted.”
The truth is that Whānau Ora is not being dismantled. The contracts simply went through a tendering process and the existing organisations that are closely linked to Te Pāti Māori through John Tamihere were not successful. Those that did win the contracts are also Māori so Ngarewa-Packer’s comments are at best ill-informed. Iwi Ngāti Toa and Ngāi Tahu have confirmed that they won contracts.
Te Pāti Māori are angry because this diminishes their power base and their affiliate organisations will now miss out on some $155 million of taxpayers funds. In most developed democracies, organisations with such intimate ties with a political party would never have been eligible for such contracts in the first place. There are simply too many conflicts of interest.
Tendering processes are vital to governments demonstrating transparency as to who receives lucrative contracts and that the processes by which they are chosen are fair and best value. It is arrogant in the extreme and shows a disregard for government processes for Te Pāti Māori to think that organisations connected to them should be exempt from this.
There have also been plenty of reasons why the Government might look elsewhere for these contracts. The scandals and allegations surrounding Manurewa Marae and John Tamihere-led organisations involving census data breaches and election tampering have eroded public trust in these organisations and government agencies.
The Public Service Commission says its inquiry into alleged misuse of private information, gained through the Census and Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, shows issues requiring further investigation by “other authorities”.
The Commission started its inquiry in June, after a number of concerns were raised about Manurewa Marae, Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust and the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency.
Those three organisations had contracts with Government departments such as Stats NZ and the Ministry of Health, which gave them access to personal information and contact details.
The three charities also have close links to Te Pāti Māori.1
Stuff, January 28 2025
John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori have pursued a strategy of crying ‘racist’ in response to virtually any criticism. This approach has been so audacious that even the hard-left SpinOff have called them out on it:
“John Tamihere, Waipareira Trust and Te Pāti Māori have faced scrutiny over financial dealings and political entanglements – but dismissing all criticism as racism risks damaging the credibility of kaupapa Māori governance…
…Being criticised for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest-free loans from a charitable trust to sponsor your own political aspirations? Racist. An inquiry being launched into Manurewa Marae and the potential misuse of census data by Te Pāti Māori? Racist. Giving other potential Whānau Ora commissioning agencies a chance to pitch for funding? Racist. Te Pāti Māori being told to file a financial statement, as required under law and already done by every other political party? Racist.”2
It is beyond frustrating that despite all the completely reasonable justifications Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development) have for giving the contracts to other Māori-led groups, reporting on the matter has been slanted so heavily toward John Tamihere’s interests. Some of the articles and opinion pieces published are outright false. Complete lies in some cases.
For example, the Herald is running a feature opinion piece that declares that Whānau Ora is effectively dead. This is not true. It is written by Helen Leahy who is Pou Ārahi of Ngā Waihua o Paerangi Trust.
She claims that Whānau Ora is being dismantled. She alleges there was a decision by Minister Tama Potaka and Te Puni Kōkiri “to demolish the building blocks from which transformation has occurred is against all evidence reported by the three Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies: Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu, Te Pou Matakana (Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency) and Pacific Futures.”3
Again, a reminder that John Tamihere is the CEO of Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies (WOCA).
For those who keep up with political news it is a struggle to wrap one’s head around the complexity of the John Tamihere web of influence and power. He has his fingers in so many pies one wonders where he finds the hours in the day to work for them all. He certainly earns a pretty penny from the government funds that have flowed through them.
Tamihere isn’t the only one who will be stressing about the loss of the government gravy train. Reporting in 2024 detailed how there had been a 77% increase in average pay for Waipareira Trust’s key managers.
“Waipareira’s annual report records 13.3 fulltime-equivalent senior management personnel - the most senior of whom is chief executive John Tamihere - were paid an average of $510,679 per annum.”4
No wonder there has been such an outcry from those who have benefited from extraordinary amounts of public funding. The well has dried up. Or rather the flow of funding is being diverted elsewhere. To other Māori organisations. To other iwi.
The media has an apparent aversion toward reporting on Te Pāti Māori and affiliates with the robust critical approach they deploy to other political parties and organisations. Really, the scandals surrounding Te Pāti Māori and John Tamihere organisations should have been the subjects of front page investigative journalism that digs into every conflict of interest and perception of dodginess.
We are, again, let down by those in our newsrooms. Hopefully the information we share with each other in pieces like this help to make more New Zealanders aware of what is going on.
www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360561595/inquiry-marae-data-use-raises-concerns-requiring-investigation
https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/06-03-2025/dear-john-we-cant-always-blame-racism
www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/whanau-ora-is-a-love-story-and-it-is-about-falling-back-in-love-with-ourselves-helen-leahy/IES7FBTJSRBZZA7SNERZEO62Y4/
www.nzherald.co.nz/business/waipareiras-controversial-campaign-loan-repaid-while-executive-salaries-skyrocket/EYVHUCDXLRGJBKODYEVFLPZCOU/
In my opinion, the sorts of arrangements (aka “spiderweb”) between JT, WOCA, Wai. Trust and TPM - the nepotism, the sense of entitlement, the dirty politics, the unaccountability, and the apparent skull duggery (I refer to the Manurewa Marae Census and Election rigging suspicions) is but a foretaste of what “leadership” looks like on one side of any future co-governance model.
We should all continue to encourage family, friends and debate opponents to refer to TPM’s website in the context of the JT/TPM spiderweb to understand what Maoridom’s “governance” model would look like. Not just pakeha but specifically the vast majority of non-influential Maori should be very worried and will hopefully wake up to the reality of TPM’s projected “bright new co-governed future” - I honestly believe it will be bright for the few and a disaster for the many, Maori and non-Maori alike, riddled with corruption, grift, intolerance and power plays galore.
At risk of using a dated “colonial” tainted term which nevertheless drives home the picture: Banana Republic anyone?
Good analysis, Ani. Thanks.
One small point: "Those that did win the contracts are also Māori."
In fact, there are now four commissioning agencies (instead of the original three) and we have only been told about two of them.
Ngāti Toa has one of the two North Island contracts and Ngāi Tahu has the warrant for the South Island.
What will really upset the apple cart is if a non-Maori organisation — such as the Salvation Army — gets one of the remaining two agencies, which is entirely possible if the govt fulfils its promise to provide for "need not race"..