Auditor-General rules Government s Ihumātao land purchase unlawful
(Photo / NZ Herald) Tue, 20 Apr 2021, 4:16PM
The Auditor-General has found the Government s $30 million purchase of land at Ihumātao was unlawful because it did not seek the correct approvals from Parliament.
Act Party leader David Seymour and National MP Nicola Willis wrote separately to the Office of the Auditor-General about the Government s purchase of land at Ihumātao in Māngere, Auckland.
Their concerns were around a $29.9m appropriation from the Land for Housing Programme being used to purchase the land at Ihumātao from Fletcher Residential Limited.
They were concerned using that amount was outside the appropriation for that programme and therefore potentially unlawful.
The deal, made explicitly outside the Treaty of Waitangi process, ended one chapter in a long-running dispute over the land near Auckland Airport, which was once a site of market gardens for local iwi but was confiscated by the New Zealand Government in 1863. ACT leader David Seymour and National housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis both wrote to the Auditor-General asking for him to look into the case, arguing that the funds for Land For Housing Programme was being misused for a different purpose.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has rejected the assertion of any wrongdoing by her Government. The Auditor-General did not quite agree with this statement, but did find that the new appropriation the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development had made had not gone through the proper Parlaimentary process. This new appropriation was made after Treasury said using the existing Land For Housing appropriation would not be proper.
The government will have to pass legislation to make the purchase of the land at Ihumātao lawful, because the ministry did not seek the right approvals for using the $29.9m.
The deal, made explicitly outside the Treaty of Waitangi process, ended one chapter in a long-running dispute over the land near Auckland Airport, which was once a site of market gardens for local iwi but was confiscated by the New Zealand Government in 1863. ACT leader David Seymour and National housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis both wrote to the Auditor-General asking for him to look into the case, arguing that the funds for Land For Housing Programme was being misused for a different purpose.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has rejected the assertion of any wrongdoing by her Government. The Auditor-General did not quite agree with this statement, but did find that the new appropriation the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development had made had not gone through the proper Parlaimentary process. This new appropriation was made after Treasury said using the existing Land For Housing appropriation would not be proper.