Officials launch review into Mahuta family contracts

AuthorThomas Coughlan
Published date24 June 2022
Publication titleNorthern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)
The family members were appointed to a Māori advisory rōpū on waste management, which researched a mātaraunga Māori framework on waste

This meant researching using traditional Māori knowledge and its applications to waste management.

No ministers were involved in the appointment, the Mahuta family connection was disclosed at the outset, and extensive advice was sought before the appointment.

The five members appointed to the group include Mahuta’s husband Gannin Ormsby and two other members of the Ormsby family, husband and wife team, Tamoko Ormsby and Waimirirangi Ormsby.

Mahuta was described as the pair’s aunty in another contract application.

The group had two other members, Teina Boasa, and Jacqui Forbes, not relations.

The existence of the review was disclosed in a written parliamentary question response to National’s public service spokesman Simeon Brown from Environment Minister David Parker.

Parker said he was advised the ministry “identified the members of the group based on their expertise on waste minimisation and circular economy initiatives, and that ministers had no involvement in the selection process”.

He said the ministry was...

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