More taxpayer funded lobbying?

Stuff reports:

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka has asked his officials for urgent advice around “electioneering” concerns related to a Whānau Ora advertisement encouraging Māori to sign up for the Māori roll was released this week.

The half-hour ad was rolled out by the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency this week, featuring artist and activist Tame Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe).

The agency’s chair Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, a former Te Pāti Māori candidate, has defended the ad as being part of her mission to advance Māori wellbeing, but senior ministers on Wednesday raised alarm.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament, Potaka said he had written to Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) – which administers funding for Whānau Ora – for an assurance that public funding had not been used for “electioneering”.

This is almost certainly a case of taxpayer funded lobbying for partisan self-interest.

WOCA is part of the Tamihere Empire, all funded by taxpayers. Tamihere is the TPM President. WOCA is spending money to try and persuade people to swap to the Maori roll, which means more Maori seats that TPM can try and win. It is naked self interest.