Not the way we aim to operate : Woods promises to tidy up unlawful Ihumātao purchase Newshub 3 hrs ago
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Housing Minister Megan Woods is promising to tidy up the Government s unlawful spending of $30 million of taxpayer money on Ihumātao.
The Auditor-General has investigated the land purchase and found the Government didn t jump through the correct funding hoops. It s now being forced to fix the botch-up.
ACT and National both wrote to the Auditor-General asking it to investigate the Government s spending of public money to purchase the south Auckland land.
It turns out the Government dipped into a pocket of the public purse it wasn t allowed to touch - it didn t have Parliament s sign-off.
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.
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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.
21/04/2021
Watch: Judith Collins full interview Credits: Video - The AM Show ; Image - Getty/The AM Show
Judith Collins is calling for the Government to apologise for its purchase of IhumÄtao land after the Auditor-General ruled it illegal, despite the National Party showing the same behaviour 71 times.Â
She says Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Housing Minister Megan Woods must apologise for signing off on the deal. They were both involved, they both signed off, she told The AM Show on Wednesday.
On Tuesday it was revealed the Auditor-General deemed the IhumÄtao deal unlawful because Parliament did not approve a new spending category to purchase the land.