As the crisis engulfing Te Pāti Māori and the election of Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp continues to grow, ZB Plus can reveal the Electoral Commission received seven complaints alleging the provision of food in return for votes at Manurewa Marae during the 2023 General Election voting period, an unlawful practice known as "treating".

It's one of a number of allegations against the party over its campaigning for Tāmaki Makaurau candidate Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp, who won 42 votes.

A raft of agencies have announced investigations into possible wrongdoing. 

Earlier this week, the Sunday Star-Times revealed allegations that voters had been given $100 supermarket vouchers, wellness packs or food parcels to complete census forms and to switch to the Māori roll.  

ZB Plus has also spoken to people present at the marae during the voting period who described the provision of food to voters in the area immediately outside the voting booth.

Last night Te Pāti Māori issued a statement which said: "The recent attacks on Te Pāti Māori and its MPs are part of a continuing narrative of attacks on all matters Māori."

"If we could respond to baseless innuendo we would.  If there is any evidence, then show us, so we have a reason to engage in a conversation."

Under section 217 of the Electoral Act 1993, anyone who gives or provides food, drink, entertainment or provision is liable for prosecution for the corrupt practice of treating, if done "for the purpose of corruptly" influencing that person to alter their voting behaviour or procedure at the defendant’s election.

In an Official Information Act response, the Commission stated that although the ambit is broad, the threshold for establishing treating is also high - a corrupt intention is required.

In the Commission's view, the Courts have previously held that the offence of "treating" requires an intention on the part of the person treating to influence the votes of the persons treated.

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Based on the information that the Commission had, it did not consider that the allegations of treating at the Manurewa marae would meet the high test for treating and it therefore did not refer the matter to Police.

Whistleblowers at the centre of allegations that Census data was misused at the Manurewa marae during the 2023 general election are described by sources as credible and well-respected community leaders. 

Individuals spoken to by ZB Plus who were at the Manurewa marae on election day confirm that the Chair of the Waipareira Trust, Ray Hall, was at the marae during voting for several hours. 

Kemp, successful Te Pāti Māori candidate and CEO of the marae, was also seen there several times on election day with members of her family. 

ZB Plus has been told that, in addition to Te Pāti Māori campaigning outside the voting area, some workers inside the voting area were wearing Te Pāti Māori clothing and Electoral Commission staff were given Te Pāti Māori merchandise once voting had ended. 

On Wednesday, the Post reported that the Labour Party had made a complaint to the Electoral Commission alleging Māori voters in Auckland received two text messages from the short code 2661, urging the recipient to vote for Te Pāti Māori. 

The complaint said: "The text message is a party advertisement for Te Pāti Māori but does not contain any authorisation statement. 

"The text message comes from a four-digit short code (2661) which we understand belongs to the Waipareira Trust ... that shortcode has been previously used to send people government information about COVID vaccinations and other matters." 

ZB Plus understands that members of the public as far away as Bay of Plenty received the text message, raising concerns about the source of contact details.  

However, a spokesperson for Stats NZ told ZB Plus yesterday that "the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency did not have access to their databases. Nor did nor Waipareira Trust or John Tamihere."

"Stats NZ partnered with Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to lift low 2023 Census response rates from Māori in Auckland. To support the collection operations with non-responding households, each day we created a file for them which contained the addresses of households which had not yet completed the census.

"This allowed their staff to focus their efforts on dwellings where residents had not yet completed the census. The files were shared via a secure folder, with no further access to our systems. This was covered in our data sharing agreement with Whānau Ora."

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner announced that it was notified by Stats NZ on June 5 of a potential privacy breach relating to the 2023 Census and that it will continue to engage with them as they work through their investigation. 

Health New Zealand said that it was aware of media reports relating to misuse of immunisation data but had not received any complaints. 

The agency told ZB Plus that it would be seeking assurances from the providers involved that they have complied with their obligations around the privacy of individuals and would also be asking Police and the Electoral Commission if they hold any information or complaints that Health NZ should be aware of. 

The Electoral Commission told ZB Plus that shortly after last year’s election, it received complaints about a text message promoting Te Pāti Māori that did not include a promoter statement. 

A spokesperson for the Commission said it looked into the matter and referred it to police. 

"As it is with Police, we cannot comment further on the details of the complaints." 

Stats NZ has appointed Doug Craig of the RDC Group to investigate allegations around the misuse of Census data. It is understood that the terms of Craig's appointment will be made public once they are agreed.

Stats NZ is yet to determine whether the final report will be made public.

Following an interview on Mike Hosking Breakfast yesterday with a representative for a whistleblower, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Development told Newstalk ZB that, "The claims raised by Mr Halse on Newstalk ZB this morning are serious, and we take them seriously."

"In his interview, Mr Halse said he represented a MSD whistleblower that had "used the Protected Disclosure Act."

"We are not able to provide any further comment on this matter for the reason explained in section 19 of the Act.

"In terms of concerns raised relating to the Electoral Act, we understand those matters are the subject of a complaint to Police. In terms of the allegations in relation to the Census, those matters are currently the subject of a Statistics New Zealand investigation."