The Hikoi Hustlers

Tamihere goes bush after a successful recruitment drive

"The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti ('March for the Treaty') was ostensibly a protest against David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill. But things are not always as they seem. ...
    "Rather than an informed protest against the Treaty Principles Bill, the Hīkoi was in fact a Māori Party recruitment drive and promotion, orchestrated by John Tamihere. ...
    "The Māori Party recruitment drive appears to have worked, with thousands shifting from the general roll to the Māori electoral roll. The increase in the Māori electoral roll could translate into another Māori electorate. In the 2023 general election, the Māori Party won six of the seven Māori electorates.
    "On-the-ground Hīkoi leader was Eru Kapa-Kingi ... a paid Māori Party staffer and son of Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, current Māori Party Member of Parliament. ... Māori Party co-leader Rawhiri Waititi was naturally at the heart of the Hīkoi. ...
    "Funding much of this Māori Party political activism is the Waipareira Trust, with John Tamihere as Chief Executive and his wife Awerangi as Chief Operating Officer. ... The Trust currently receives about $20 million in Government funding per annum ... The Trust owns about $120 million in assets. ...
    "On top of being a Māori Party promotion and recruitment drive, Kingpin John Tamihere employed the Hīkoi, and its downstream media coverage, to deflect and distract from ongoing investigations into his [electoral, charities and privacy] skulduggery.
    "Mainstream media coverage of the Treaty of Waitangi is a shroud of lies. ... [And] our institutions and state agencies have a long way to go to re-earn our trust they can uphold the rule of law and principles of openness and honesty ..."

~ John McLean from his post 'John Tamihere's Māori Party Machinations'

Te Pāti Māori's electioneering shenanigans at Manurewa Marae are small beer

 

Te Pāti Māori's electioneering shenanigans at Manurewa Marae are small beer compared to their pāti president's  financial shenanigans at the Waipareira Trust, which looks increasingly like he regards it as his personal and pāti ATM.

That's where the real enquiry needs to be focussed — on the slush fund known as Whanau Ora. And the deals done by several parties to create it. 

It was predictable. When there's this much money and power sloshing around unaccountably, there's always someone who will make it his job to take advantage ...

WHAT WE SAID IN 2010:

"If stimulus and bailouts are welfare for bankers-who’ve-failed, and Kiwisaver is welfare for suits-with-nothing-in-them, then surely the new politically-correct Whānau Ora scheme is just welfare for 'welfare providers,' isn’t it? Welfare that is primarily to keep the likes of John Tamihere and Rongo Wetere in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed. Welfare for a Browntable of well-heeled ambulance chasers. Welfare that will end up costing us all more in the long run than the current welfare bill."

'Welfare for Everyone' - NOT PC, April, 2010

WHAT WE SAID IN 2015:

"Whanau Ora is ... simply welfare for separatist welfare providers.
    "In short, a scam.
    "That much is fairly clear even from the Auditor General’s findings on funding, to whit: 'During the first four years, total spending on Whānau Ora was $137.6 million…. Nearly a third of the total spending was on administration…' 
    "You see? A very well-paying scam …  if you’re inside that tent clipping the ticket.
    "What Whanau Ora is primarily, is welfare for separatist welfare providers....
    "So what has the scam achieved?
    "It has achieved a great deal indeed … for all those inside the tent.
    "What it achieved for the Maori Party was to buy them the backing of welfare providers – and as you can see I mean 'buy' in the very literal sense. Sure, it’s been hard to keep the backers inside the tent as bigger game seemed to appear elsewhere, but for a while at least it bought support for the new party.
    "And what it achieved for the Key Government was to buy the backing of the Maori Party – 'buy' here being used in the very political sense of buying the Maori Party’s votes, with which it was able to stay in power.  
    "So quite a great deal indeed was achieved, if you’re one of the ones in power." 

'The Whānau Ora Scam' - NOT PC, May 2015

 

Grifter

 

Professional grifter, John Tamihere

"As the Party President of Te Pāti Māori and the Chief executive of Te Whānau o Waipareira, the revelations that [the taxpayer-funded] Waipareira has given [John] Tamihere interest-free loans to fund political campaigns should have Māori questioning if this is a party and people they can support. This seemingly misappropriation of money seems to have gone largely unreported by MSM ... But reports are that Waipareira will 'try' to claw back $385,000 from their Chief executive at the suggestion of Charity Services. At this point it needs to be noted that Tamihere’s wife Awerangi is the Chief Operating Officer of Waipareira, so it’s unlikely we will see her demand her husband pay back these loans anytime soon."

~ Corina Shields, from her post 'The need for hard conversations'

Another highly-paid beneficiary

John Tamihere shares a joke at taxpayers' expense

"The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites." 

~ Thomas Sowell, from his column 'Human Livestock'

"[John Tamihere's] Waipareira Trust has grown significantly and become a key service provider for Whānau Ora.
    "Whānau Ora was created in 2010 under the oversight of Dame Tariana Turia ... In essence, Whānau Ora is described as a Māori approach to delivering social and health services to whānau ... commissioning agencies that would invest [sic] directly in their communities....
    "There are only three Whānau Ora commissioning agencies in the country.... For the North Island, the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency is actually the trading name of a company called Te Pou Matakana Limited. The Patrons of that entity include Dame Tariana Turia, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait and John Tamihere’s father-in-law, Sir Mason Durie. The chief executive is John Tamihere and the chief operating officer is his wife, Awerangi Tamihere....
    "The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, NUMA [John Tamihere's so-called National Urban Māori Authority] and the Waipareira Trust are all located at the same Henderson commercial address and share administrative and back office support....
    "[U]nder the current Labour government, the Waipareira Trust has had a golden run.... In its most recent accounts for the year ended 30 June 2022, the trust had revenue from services [i.e., money doled out from government] of $69,544,616, and had cash or term deposits of $50,379,806.... Over [the last] six year period ... remuneration and benefits for senior management have increased from $2,013,194 to $4,390,413 ... [and] annual management fees [to] $6,000,000...
    "The management fee alone is an eye-watering amount and seems difficult to justify ...
    "[M]any Māori believe that not enough funding from Whānau Ora is making its way to those in need. Their concerns seem to be justified."

~ Thomas Cranmer, from his post 'John Tamihere and the Waipareira Trust'

NB: WHAT WE SAID IN 2010:

"If stimulus and bailouts are welfare for bankers-who’ve-failed, and Kiwisaver is welfare for suits-with-nothing-in-them, then surely the new politically-correct Whānau Ora scheme is just welfare for 'welfare providers,' isn’t it? Welfare that is primarily to keep the likes of John Tamihere and Rongo Wetere in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed. Welfare for a Browntable of well-heeled ambulance chasers. Welfare that will end up costing us all more in the long run than the current welfare bill."

'Welfare for Everyone' - NOT PC, April, 2010

AND WHAT WE SAID IN 2015:

"[W]hat Whanau Ora is, as I said when it was announced, is simply welfare for separatist welfare providers.
    "In short, a scam.
    "That much is fairly clear even from the Auditor General’s findings on funding, to whit: 'During the first four years, total spending on Whānau Ora was $137.6 million…. Nearly a third of the total spending was on administration…' 
    "You see? A very well-paying scam … if you’re inside that tent clipping the ticket.
    "What Whanau Ora is primarily, is welfare for separatist welfare providers....
    "So what has the scam achieved?
    "It has achieved a great deal indeed … for all those inside the tent.
    "What it achieved for the Maori Party was to buy them the backing of welfare providers – and as you can see I mean 'buy' in the very literal sense. Sure, it’s been hard to keep the backers inside the tent as bigger game seemed to appear elsewhere, but for a while at least it bought support for the new party.
    "And what it achieved for the Key Government was to buy the backing of the Maori Party – 'buy' here being used in the very political sense of buying the Maori Party’s votes, with which it was able to stay in power.
    "So quite a great deal indeed was achieved, if you’re one of the ones in power."

'The Whānau Ora Scam' - NOT PC, May 2015

 

The confessions of Tamihere

Lots of time has been spent guessing the John Tamihere Ten - those Labour MPs that he says will follow him to ... well, wherever it is he is leading them.

The guesses differ marginally, but at this stage any such guesswork is surely academic; none of either the Tamihere Ten nor the Flaky Fifteen are likely to want to follow him into political oblivion.

Or is that really where's he's heading? Is there a future for that most endangered of species: a politician who tells the truth.
Q: How can you tell when a poltician is lying?
A: When their lips are moving.

One of the unanswered questions that reflects severely on the judgement of JT is this: if you're going to tell the truth, why on earth would you tell it to a conspiracy nutter second in paranoia only to Nicky Hagar.

Anyway, one unalloyed good that comes of Tamihere's confessions: no-one is talking about last weekend's Labour Party conference ...
:-)