A report into whether personal Census and Covid vaccination data collected at Manurewa Marae was misused for election purposes has found government agencies failed to put proper safeguards in place, and fell short of their responsibility to protect and manage the sharing of personal information.
Government Statistician and Stats NZ chief executive Mark Sowden would also stand down next month, the Public Service Commissioner announced on Tuesday.
The Public Service Commission has now asked a number of agencies to temporarily suspend entering new contracts, or extending existing ones, with Te Pou Matakana, the Waipareira Trust, and Manurewa Marae, until it is satisfied the agencies' contracts are fit for purpose, and adequately deal with their obligations.
The inquiry was started last June, following allegations Census and Covid-19 vaccination data collected at the Marae was used to target Māori voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.
Takutai Tarsh Kemp, the Marae's chief executive at the time, went on to narrowly win the electorate over Labour's Peeni Henare.
The inquiry looked at the specific actions of a number of government agencies.
Stats NZ contracted the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to assist with a "last-ditch" attempt to collect Census data from people Stats NZ had been unable to reach.
While the report says the Census was a success due to this, Stats NZ's application of a high-trust model in relation to the collection of the data meant the usual confidentiality protections were not put in place.
The inquiry found Stats NZ had "insufficient" safeguards to protect personal information, leading to a risk personal information collected by the third-parties on Stats NZ's behalf could be used for an improper purpose.
Risks of conflicts, privacy breaches, and poor process were identified but not dealt with.
As a result, Sowden will not seek re-appointment.
"His decision to step down reflects the standard of accountability expected of public service chief executives," Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said.
The Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand also had no safeguards in place to address possible conflicts of interest arising from the sharing of personal information.
Stats NZ, the Ministry of Health, Health New Zealand, and Te Puni Kōkiri have been asked to temporarily suspend new contracts, renewals, and extensions with the three providers.
Whether the data collected was actually misused for electoral purposes was outside the scope of the inquiry, but has been referred to other authorities for investigation.
