27 January 2025
James
By email
to: [FYI request #29454 email]
Dear James
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 2024/74
On Friday 6 December 2024 you made a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA)
for the following information:
Please provide the name of the person, who worked on election day, at Manurewa marae who
was also on the Board of Trustees.
Please detail the role this person performed on election day.
Please provide all correspondence and communications from the electoral commission approving
this person to work at the Marae on election day. This should include all emails, texts etc.
Was the chairman of Manurewa Marae present at the voting booths on the Marae for any other
purpose other than to cast his vote? If so, please provide details and approval from the electoral
commission.
Please find answers to your questions below.
The requested name is Gregory Whaiapu. This person worked on election day at Manurewa Marae.
At the time, they were a member of the Board of Trustees of Manurewa Marae.
Mr Whaiapu worked as an Issuing Officer for ordinary and special votes. A copy of a Personal
Instruction Manual has been attached, which details the role of an Issuing Officer.
Please find attached all correspondence and communications regarding the employment of Mr
Whaiapu.
Mr Whaiapu’s recruitment and work arrangements were coordinated from electorate headquarters
in collaboration with the Voting Place Manager. Electorate headquarters is a temporary office that is
shut down and packed up shortly after the official result of the General Election is announced. As a
result, communications, including emails or messages regarding his employment, are no longer
accessible, as electorate headquarters email accounts are closed. The attached document contains
all the information currently available at National Office.
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz | www.elections.nz
We would like to inform you that following the closure of the electorate office post-election,
national office did receive employment-specific documentation from the electorate office where Mr
Whaiapu was employed. However, these records exist in physical format as part of a larger
collection of files. These physical documents are currently stored in archive facilities and were not
digitised.
Given that these files are stored in physical archives and are part of a large volume of records,
accessing them involves logistical challenges. While we can review the materials to determine if
anything is relevant to your request, please be aware that retrieving these archived files can be a
time-intensive process and may not yield the specific information you're seeking.
If you would like us to proceed with reviewing the archived materials to identify any potentially
relevant documents, please let us know. We would be happy to discuss the next steps with you.
During the election period, there were no reports from Electoral Commission staff that the chairman
of Manurewa Marae was inside the voting place, or within 10 metres of the entrance to the voting
place, during voting hours for any other purpose than to cast his vote.
In the interests of transparency, we release responses to Official Information Act requests every 3
months. We will publish this response with your personal details redacted.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to make a complaint to the Ombudsman if you are
not satisfied with the response to your request. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Martin Rodgers
Director Voting Services
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz | www.elections.nz
