Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand First has called for yet another inquiry into Covid-19 – this one focused on vaccine injuries.

The second phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry, commissioned by the coalition, released its findings on Tuesday, unequivocally endorsing the use of vaccines.

It did, however, highlight that officials were warned about the risks of giving two doses to teenagers – and said that was not passed on to ministers.

In a statement, NZ First said the latest report did not go far enough when looking into vaccine safety and risks.

It called for a select committee to hold its own inquiry to give anyone injured a voice and to hold decision-makers accountable.

“The Crown needs to know how widespread any effects of those known risks that were mandated on New Zealanders but specifically those young people.

“The downstream health effects could be disastrous with the report identifying myocarditis as a specific health consequence.”

Speaking at Parliament, NZ First leader Winston Peters told reporters he had serious concerns about vaccine safety.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected here. They need to know the truth. They need to know why they were denied the truth.”

ACT’s David Seymour said he was open to the idea of a select committee inquiry.

“A lot of people felt they were ostracized from society and if this helps them feel seen and heard, then it might not be a bad thing.”

Even with the support of NZ First and ACT, a select committee inquiry would require the backing of the National Party.

National leader and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dodged questions over whether he supported an inquiry, saying only that there were “very serious questions” for Labour to answer.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said two high-level investigations had already been carried out – including one commissioned by the current coalition government.

He pointed out that Peters was once a staunch advocate for vaccines, even calling for them to be a requirement for welfare and parole.

“One of the wonders of being Winston Peters is you never have to be consistent in your position on anything.”

Hipkins said the government needed to “move on” and focus instead on the cost-of-living and the country’s future.

In its report, released on Tuesday, the Royal Commission of Inquiry said the process and consideration surrounding the approval of vaccines could not have been more thorough.

“We acknowledge that some people disagree with Medsafe’s decision that the benefits of [the Pfizer vaccine] Comirnaty outweighed its risks. They consider the risks of the vaccine then, and now, well outweigh any perceived benefit.

“We do not agree with that view.”

The report said the evidence did not support arguments that Covid-19 was not “a significant threat to public health”.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Willow-Jean Prime has lost the education portfolio, but picked up social development, as Labour reshuffles its decks ahead of the election.

Ginny Andersen will take on the education role, making her the third Labour MP to take on the role in just over a year.

Peeni Henare‘s departure from Parliament, along with Adrian Rurawhe earlier this year, has given Labour leader Chris Hipkins an opportunity to change things up.

“These refreshed portfolios ensure our team will hit the ground running when we win the election in November,” Hipkins said.

Willie Jackson, who had taken on the social development role last year, will instead take on Māori Crown Relations.

Speaking to the changes, Hipkins said Prime’s new social development role required “care, empathy, and a strong focus on improving outcomes for New Zealanders,” while Jackson would focus on running a “winning campaign” in the Māori seats.

Among the other changes are Damien O’Connor picking up Henare’s defence spokesperson role, Reuben Davidson taking over economic development, and Tangi Utikere becoming the spokesperson for state-owned enterprises.

Vanushi Walters moves considerably higher up Labour’s list, and takes over foreign affairs from Henare.

New list MP Georgie Dansey has been given the rainbow issues and regulation roles. Dan Rosewarne, who will re-enter Parliament following Henare’s retirement, has been given the rural communities and small business portfolios.

Duncan Webb, who has announced he will retire at the election, has lost all of his spokesperson roles.

His justice portfolio has been given to Camilla Belich.

Hipkins said Webb would instead take on a “mentoring role to support our team.”

The Prime Minister is also expected to announce a ministerial reshuffle in the coming weeks, following the retirement of Judith Collins and Dr Shane Reti’s announcement he will step down at the election.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Technology entrepreneur Brian Cartmell appears to have donated at least half a million dollars to the coalition parties – and to the Opportunity party.

Cartmell moved to New Zealand in 2010 and gave up his US citizenship in 2015. His former professional background includes working for the Internet Entertainment Group, an online pornography company. It was a pioneer in live webcam shows and subscription services.

In a statement on his website, Cartmell said he had donated equally to the three coalition parties as well as to Opportunity. The ACT Party told RNZ it had received a total of $200,000 from Cartmell last year. The Electoral Commission said a $100,000 donation to Opportunity from Cartmell had been disclosed. Neither National nor NZ First would confirm donations from him.

But Cartmell himself said the current coalition parties represent “the best available chance of navigating” a period of significant economic, technological, and geopolitical change in a way that preserves New Zealand’s sovereignty, prosperity and independence.

He said he chose to donate equal amounts to National, Act and NZ First last year as none of the three represents his thinking, but he believed the three parties complemented each other. The donation to Opportunity was made because he feels healthy democracies need parties willing to put forward ideas major parties won’t.

“New ideas enter the political process from the edges, and parties like Opportunity play an important role in making sure that process doesn’t stagnate.”

Who is Brian Cartmell?

Cartmell lives in Queenstown with his partner. He says he has donated more than $1 million to a range of organisations including Starship Children’s Hospital, Cure Kids, Hato Hone St John and NZSAS Regiment Trust.

In the 1990s, he worked at Internet Entertainment Group helping it to develop live streaming technology.

Cartmell also founded a domain registry firm in 1997 which managed domain names with the .cc extension, associated with the Cocos Islands territory, an island territory with a population of around 600 people. He told the United States Senate Commerce Committee 400,000 domain names were registered to the extension. The Australian Financial Review reported the islands received no benefits from domain name sales, although Cartmell did distribute technology and grants. Cartmell sold the company to Verisign in 2001 for an undisclosed sum.

Cartmell also funded an anti-spam service called SpamAlert. This company won a court case against the food company Hormel, maker of tinned Spam, over the use of the word spam. He was also an early adopter of cryptocurrency Bitcoin and participated in the first funding round of Coinbase.

The Companies Register shows he is a director of three New Zealand companies and a shareholder in an additional 12 companies. These include crowdsourcing platform PledgeMe, food and beverage companies Angel Food and Yeastie Boys. He has a small shareholding in Invisible Urban Charging, an electric car charging company co-founded by former National Party MP Jake Bezzant.

According to Cartmell’s website he is seeking investment opportunities and is looking for innovative start-ups in transformative technologies.

Parties respond

Opportunity party general manager Iain Lees-Galloway said the cash injection, which was declared as being received on 25 February was incredibly helpful for the small party, which is not in parliament.

“We don’t have parliamentary resources to run our campaigns that sitting MPs do. So a donation like this makes a huge difference to us to be able to get our message out.”

Donations would be spent on marketing as well as travel and events. The party has received one other big donation of $50,000 from Phillip Mills, taking its currently declared total for 2026 to $150,000.

Donations made in the 2025 calendar year will be published in early May. Donations made in an election year must be declared within 20 days if they are more than $20,000.

An ACT party spokesperson confirmed Cartmell had made donations in 2025 but had not made any donations this year.

“ACT New Zealand received a donation from Brian Cartmell of $100k in December last year. He donated a total of $200k to ACT in 2025.”

New Zealand First party secretary Holly Howard said donations would be disclosed as required by law.

“Out of respect for our donors’ privacy and due process, we will not provide commentary or confirmation on individual donations ahead of the statutory reporting requirements.”

The National Party said it wouldn’t comment on individual donations, except where required by law through donation disclosures.

Information released on the electoral commission website shows coalition parties have received $750,000 in donations of over $20,000 so far this year. National has received $250,000, ACT $350,000 and NZ First $150,000.

The Greens have received $43,000 and Labour $22,000.

Cartmell’s statement says he supports transparent political donations, but will be making no further statements on the matter.

“These donations were made with that broader objective in mind – with the understanding that it is voters, not donors, who decide the direction of New Zealand.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says Justice Radich “brought justice to Te Tai Tokerau voters” when he ruled her expulsion from Te Pāti Māori “unlawful”.

It comes as a political commentator says the party might be looking to distance itself from the drama of last year, and focus on the election ahead.

The formally reinstated MP took to social media on Tuesday night to celebrate the verdict, saying her intention in bringing the case was not to incite division, but “seek clarity and ensure the processes we hold ourselves to – particularly those grounded in tikanga, are honoured”.

“Finally, today, the truth has risen,” Kapa-Kingi said following the release of the verdict on Tuesday afternoon, which ruled her suspension and subsequent expulsion as “unlawful”.

Radich said the tikanga principles that were infused into the kawa document “were not mentioned or applied” in relation to her suspension.

“Perhaps most fundamentally, the relevant tikanga principles – which must inform the way in which a decision-maker considers the kawa’s rules – were not applied in any way,” Radich said.

“This decision on its own will not heal all the mamae, but it is an important first step,” Kapa-Kingi said online.

Kapa-Kingi also mentioned she looked forward to meeting with those from Te Tai Tokerau to discuss their future strategy for the election in coming weeks.

She finished by acknowledging this week belonged to “my darling nephew Peeni Henare”, whose many years of service “deserve recognition and respect”.

Mike Colson KC – Kapa-Kingi’s lawyer – told RNZ it was nice to see an “unjust situation rectified”.

He was particularly interested in the judge’s assessment of the party breaching its own tikanga, acknowledging tikanga was a “fairly hot topic” amongst the legal profession at the moment.

“Many judges are slightly nervous dealing with it, or – one might expect very respectful of it.

“Here we had such a clear explanation of what the tikanga was of the party, and I thought it was quite brave and right of the judge to find that kawa and tikanga had been breached.”

He also acknowledged it might be considered “unusual” for a judge to “direct a party to take an action within Parliament”.

But Colson said the situation was so clear, and there was a lack of clarity last time as to whether that extra step was necessary.

“The judge thought it was proper to do so and to direct them to give a notice to the speaker.”

He said it was an unusual set of circumstances, and did not think it would set a major precedent.

The defendants had argued the case was a contractual matter, and should be dealt with privately, but Colson said the judge was quick to point out the “public character of the proceeding”, and that it was not just Kapa-Kingi’s case, but her electorate who voted her in.

“They, of course, also had a role to play and a voice to be heard, and that really pushed into very much the public arena.”

What will happen now?

On Tuesday Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi told reporters he had attempted to make contact with Kapa-Kingi, but it was not clear what the process was for her reinstatement or how the apparent rift would be addressed.

Associate professor in politics at Victoria University, Lara Greaves, told RNZ she had expected this ruling from the case.

She explained Te Pāti Māori’s constitution “wasn’t particularly clear”, and it was “very hard” to figure out if the party had followed the rules in terms of her expulsion.

Greaves thinks the decision to go to court was Kapa-Kingi’s attempt at staying with the party, “to change it from the inside,”, and this was “politics pushing up against the law”.

“Legally, there’s a judgment, here that Kapa-Kingi is still part of the party, but it’s not clear what will happen next.”

She said the co-leaders had not spoken about the ruling much, and they had expressed a desire to limit any further drama, so “for a lot of us, it’s just going to be a case of waiting and seeing what happens”.

“Being within a political party where you’ve been expelled is probably not a comfortable place,” Greaves said.

She pointed to potential scenarios of further attempts at expulsion or further issues raised, “there’s still a lot of things that could happen here and happen here”.

Greaves said a lot of people, including herself, had made the assessment there was a “bit too much commentary” taking place last year from the party and others involved.

“So, just being a bit quieter might be a good solution there.

“Te Pāti Māori may have listened to a lot of their critics, listened to a lot of their whānau and communities, and thought – we need to keep this out of the media and keep a bit quiet on it going forward.”

Greaves also pointed to the Māori seats, and Labour and the Greens running strong candidates this election, “there are quite a few potential threats to their electoral success, so it’s kind of important that [Te Pāti Māori] sort it out now and figure out what they’re doing in order to get success in the election”.

“Te Pāti Māori may have made a decision in a way to hope that voters think that these issues are behind them and to move forward constructively.”

She said there would be a lot of scrutiny on the dynamics between Kapa-Kingi and the party leadership in the coming months, as well as a focus on MPs Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and Oriini Kaipara and how they were fitting into the party.

It was possible, she said, that there would be enough time between the “drama” last year to the election this year that people did forgive and forget, “that would actually be a pretty good comeback”.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Green Party is welcoming news that the government has backtracked on plans to reinstate live animal exports.

Animal Welfare Minister Andrew Hoggard told 1 News he could not get Cabinet agreement on overturning the ban, which formed part of coalition agreements with both ACT and NZ First.

Green Party spokesperson Steve Abel said the news was a win for animals, the public and the groups campaigning against the move.

He said there had been backlash to the proposal right from the start.

“From the outset, there was overwhelming outrage from veterinary experts who expressed there was no way to maintain animal welfare standards and herd cattle onto ships where they spend weeks at sea wallowing in their own waste. It’s fundamentally cruel and there’s no way to uphold the barest animal standards while exporting at sea,” Abel said.

“They couldn’t get it across the line because New Zealanders didn’t want to see animals suffering in that way.”

A 57,000-strong petition calling for the ban to stay in place was presented to parliament in 2024.

At the time, Hoggard said he wanted the ban overturned by 2025.

In April 2025, Hoggard told RNZ he expected the legislation to go to Cabinet within months, but that a backlog had slowed the work of the Parliamentary Counsel Office in drafting the amendment.

Last month, Livestock Exports NZ chief executive Glen Neal said uncertainty around the bill was unhelpful, but the industry remained hopeful the ban would be overturned.

Parliamentary questions revealed the minister had not received any advice on the plan since mid-2025, despite telling scrutiny week committees the amendment had gone before cabinet in December last year, Abel said.

If the coalition intended to make it an election issue, it needed to tell the public immediately, but Abel believed “the handbrake had been pulled” at the Cabinet level because of the unpopularity of the move.

The Ministry for Primary Industries initiated an independent review of live exports in 2020, after the sinking of Gulf Livestock 1, which resulted in the deaths of 41 crew and nearly 6000 cattle.

The vessel, registered to Panama and owned by a UAE shipping company, left Napier in August 2020 bound for China, but sank off the coast of Japan in a typhoon.

In 2022, the previous government passed a bill banning live exports, beginning in April 2023.

At the time, National’s animal welfare spokesperson Nicola Grigg said the ban was disproportionate and ideological, and would hurt farmers and consumers.

The National Party had campaigned on overturning the ban, with a proposal it said would require greater regulation to protect animal welfare and safety, such as purpose-built ships and a certification regime for importers.

Hoggard, who is a former president of Federated Farmers, had previously said reintroducing the trade was one of his top priorities in the portfolio and he wanted to “progress with some haste”.

A 2024, an RNZ investigation revealed industry group Livestock Export New Zealand planned to spend $1 million to ensure the ban was dismantled, including on political lobbying, a “social media counter offensive”, a “trust and understanding” campaign, media training and creating the “gold standard” for animal welfare.

RNZ has approached Minister Hoggard for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Education Minister Erica Stanford has been damning in her assessment of last week’s disastrous poll result for National, calling it a “bad week” for the party and for the caucus.

Speculation has been swirling about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s leadership after the Taxpayers’ Union Curia Poll result put National on 28.4 per cent – the party’s lowest result since Luxon became leader.

Asked on Tuesday whether she was happy with the result, Stanford – often tipped as a possible leadership contender – said: “No, of course not”.

“We’ve got to do a lot better as a party, all of us pull together, we’ve got to respect what voters are telling us,” she said.

In addition to the horror poll, Luxon also struggled to articulate the government’s position on the Iran conflict and flubbed his answers to questions on the same topic at his post-Cabinet press conference last week.

Asked whether it was a bad week for the prime minister, Stanford said the result reflected poorly on the party.

“I would say it’s a bad week for the National Party and our caucus, and we’ve got to do better all of us together, pull together and remember that our focus is on the New Zealand people, and in my case, raising student achievement,” Stanford said.

Any speculation she was vying for the top job was “reporters interviewing their own typewriters”, Stanford said, adding that she supported the prime minister “100 percent”.

On Tuesday afternoon, Stanford ruled out making any bids for the leadership.

“We have a leader, he’s doing a really good job, and I am part of a high-performing team just doing my job, reforming the education system.”

In a busy day in Parliament – when the Covid-19 inquiry report was released, National MP and Minister Shane Reti announced his retirement, and MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was reinstated to Te Pāti Māori by the High Court – National Party ministers and backbenchers were resolute in their support of the prime minister.

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said he backed Luxon and looked forward to the coming election campaign.

Asked whether he wanted to be the leader, he repeatedly said he had “no intentions” to run for the top job but also refused to rule out a future bid.

“It’s got nothing to do with me… I’m not here to answer questions about me running for the leadership, because, as you know, I support the prime minister.”

Tim Costley, MP for Ōtaki, said that asking Luxon to step down, should his polling worsen, had never crossed his mind.

“We’ve got a strong caucus. We’ve got 49. We’re looking great.”

Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink said she was not concerned about her seat, which was one of the most marginal at the last election.

“I’m not worried about my job. I’m not worried about my seat. I’m worried about the country if we have an alternative government.”

Takinini MP Rima Nakhle put her level of support for the prime minister at “123 percent”, while Upper Harbour MP Cameron Brewer said the caucus was unified.

“We respect the guy, we’re tight, we’re disciplined, and you can see that with all our answers in the last 72 hours. You know, we actually just want to get on with the job.”

The prime minister himself continued to brush off concerns about the poll, telling reporters on Tuesday that the party’s caucus meeting would feature normal business, adding the team was “really united, really focused, really driven”.

But Labour leader Chris Hipkins blasted National for getting itself into “one heck of a mess”.

“They promised they were going to fix the economy, they’ve shrunk it. They promised they were going to get Kiwis into work, more Kiwis are unemployed now. They promised they were going to fix government debt, government debt’s gone up. They promised they were going to fix the cost of living, the cost of living’s got harder for New Zealand households.

“Whether it’s Christopher Luxon or one of the other ministers who was involved in all of those decisions leading the National Party, the problem is they haven’t done what they said they were going to do.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog above.

MPs are back at Parliament today for caucus meetings and the House back in session, after a weekend of speculation about Christopher Luxon’s leadership and economic uncertainty over the Iran war.

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog at the top of this page.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog above.

MPs are back at Parliament today for caucus meetings and the House back in session, after a weekend of speculation about Christopher Luxon’s leadership and economic uncertainty over the Iran war.

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog at the top of this page.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Transport Agency (NZTA) has picked a cheaper but less effective option to fix the highway through Waioweka Gorge north of Gisborne that leaves a greater likelihood of closures than a costlier “full” fix.

A newly released business case shows the recommended option would cut closures by 53 percent while a full fix would cut them by 70 percent.

But it would still deliver 83 percent fewer days closed, a 7.5 percent cut in deaths and serious injuries, and halve the cost of freight detours.

State Highway 2 through the 48km-long gorge was still being repaired and only partially open weeks after 40 slips shut it during January’s storms.

It was regularly out of action, costing the economy at least $8 million a day.

In the May 2024 business case – the latest there was – the NZTA board actually “endorsed” the full fix of 83 sites because that would make funding it a bit more certain.

But it instead recommended fixing 58 out of the 83 sites of rockfalls, slips and erosion on what it called a “lifeline route” – those 58 most likely to cut the road.

The other 25 less risky sites to fix would be “separately funded” and not start till 2029.

It suggested this was the quickest path.

“There is urgency to address as many sites as possible quickly and it is recommended that TREC [the project] deliver funding tranches 1 and 2 now,” the report said, “with funding of lower consequence … sites delivered through future operations and maintenance programmes or future capital works programmes.”

The difference in cost was put at $36-43m in 2023 dollars. A much cheaper third option was discarded.

The agency told RNZ it was now reviewing all the sites to see if the report or the costs needed updating.

However, it also said last month that the 2024 business case was “complete and does not need any further work. So it can be utilitised without delay, subject to funding availability”.

The gorge was the country’s only stretch of highway to be rated in the worst at-risk category by a 2020 assessment.

The draft business case was begun in 2022 but storms delivering more damage kept on catching up on it.

“This 2022 business case was substantially complete, including engagement activities and inclusion of iwi in the business case process, but it was not yet submitted for approval at the time Cyclone Gabrielle hit.”

Some locals, saying Tairāwhiti had been suffering too long and too often, had called for the government to look at alternative routes north to Ōpōtiki but it said the clean-up had to come first.

The highway was closed for over three weeks after January’s storms and was on stop-go signals at times during the day and still shut at night as roadworks carry on.

The report said the board endorsed a full fix to ensure that if extra funding came available in future, it could be released for it.

The full fix was to “ensure a resilient level of service for this lifeline route”.

The estimated total costs were put at between $130m and $153m for the recommended option; and between $166m and $196m for the full fix.

The business case cautioned about leaving any risky sites ultimately unfixed.

“If lower risk sites remain unfunded there is potential these sites will deteriorate further and reduce the long-term resilience outcomes of the … investment.

“Without proactive interventions the demand for emergency funding and repairs on SH2 through Waioweka Gorge will continue.”

Of the 25 “maybe” fixes, 13 were of level three risks and 12 of level one and two. Four and five are the worst.

“Confirming full tranche 1 funding and obtaining additional tranche 2&3 funding will remain a high priority for the TREC team.”

The Transport Rebuild East Coast Alliance, or TREC, was set up to rebuild roads after Gabrielle in February 2023.

The business case had envisaged starting in 2024 on 32 projects in tranche one, then tranche two through to 2029, but was overtaken by events.

The full fix had a higher cost-benefit ratio of 1.3 versus 1.2 for what was recommended ($1.20 value back to the wider economy for each dollar spent).

Eight key risks were led off by three “high” ones: That costs would rise, the quake hazard from the Koranga Fault and how sensitive the area was to local iwi and hapu.

“Please note that future investment in the corridor is subject to funding approval,” NZTA told RNZ.

TIMELINE

• 2020 – Waioweka Gorge is officially rated NZ’s riskiest highway
• 2021 – Waka Kotahi preparing a business case for gorge highway
• 2022 – Business case mostly complete
• 2022-24 – Eight extreme weather events
• 2023 – In February, Cyclone Gabrielle damages road
• Later that year Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) is set up to rebuild
• 2024 – Business case completed in May
• 2025 – June and September rain closes road
• Five repair projects begin after September
• 2026 – 40 slips shut the highway in January
• By March 2026 it is stop-go past roadworks during the day, closed at night
• Business case is done but unfunded

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Months’ worth of social housing and benefit data haven’t been published because of a broken system, and there’s no fix in sight.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) usually provides monthly updates, including information like the number of people in emergency and social housing, and how big the waitlist is, tracking changes over time.

Those have not been published since November, and the quarterly update due in December was also missing.

MSD has reported “high level” benefit data – the number of people on various benefits – as at December, but its usual monthly benefit reporting was affected too.

“The delay is related to our Information Analysis Platform, which is the tool we use to collate benefit and some housing data,” MSD insights general manager Fleur McLaren said.

She could not say when the information would be published.

“The system is ageing and requires manual fixes,” she said.

“Because of the age of the system, undertaking a fix has taken longer than we had first anticipated.”

McLaren apologised for the delay.

The problem did not affect the ministry’s internal data collection or reporting capability – that is, the data does exist – but it could not be publicised because that required additional checks, the ministry said.

MSD is in the midst of a 10-year, $2 billion overhaul of its 30-year-old IT systems that are so clunky they hold up benefits.

In 2024, it was reported that nearly one in four beneficiaries could be receiving the wrong level of support due in part to staff having to navigate multiple frontline IT systems.

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