Questions for Creative New Zealand

The recent revelations around the “behind the scenes discussions between people who know people, who know people, who know other people,” should come as no surprise to anyone in the real world of business and politics.?

The problem arises for those who simply don’t have those connections - which is one of the reasons I originally got involved in the Manaaki/We Are Indigo controversy around the due diligence reports that Callaghan Innovation used to deny funding to that organisation.?

From documents recently released under the OIA it would appear that those connections went into full gear between Creative New Zealand and We Are Indigo once news broke of the due diligence reports. ?

What is revealed in those documents, makes for some sobering, and rather colourful, reading from Robett Hollis.(https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/exposed-manaakis-53-million-dollar-lie-creative-nz-robett-hollis ),

Removing the passion which Robett has brought to his fight for the underdogs (those without connections) it would appear that the CEO of Creative New Zealand chose to act on assurances provided to him by We Are Indigo, the party that was the subject of the due diligence reports, and chose to give those precedence over the EY Report that was commissioned by Callaghan Innovation to address the issue of a potential conflict of interest.?

So, instead of doing this behind the scenes, let’s be fully transparent.?I have read both of the Due Diligence Reports and have had the key findings of the EY Report shared with me. Given the seriousness of the reports to all parties engaged, including We Are Indigo, I have argued that this needed to be the subject of an independent enquiry. Nothing has happened for months and now the release of numerous documents under the OIA has re-ignited the debate.

I have know two members of the Creative New Zealand Council for many years and hold both in the highest regard but, rather than make those ‘behind the scenes calls,’ I will use LinkedIn to try and get some clarity on issues raised by Robett in his post, which appears to have been followed up by Kate McNamara in The New Zealand Herald.?

Those two member know who they are, and I have these questions for them:

1: Have you read the two Callaghan Innovation due diligence reports alongside the EY Report that clears the conflict of interest claims made by We Are Indigo directors in emails sent to your CEO on September 14th and again on October 6th. ?

2: Did you, or any member of the Council, read the response from the CEO of Callaghan Innovation specifically rejecting the claim by the We Are Indigo directors that ‘Callaghan Innovation had accepted that there was a conflict of interest.’?

3: Did you read the document, released under OIA, that states that “We are Indigo Ltd, found that Callaghan’s due diligence contractor was conflicted (had a relationship with K & J Growth.)? If so - Does it make sense that the subject of an unfavourable due diligence report can declare that the author of the report is conflicted and you choose to accept that assurance over the written opinion of an independent firm such as EY, that your CEO appears to have chosen not to read?

4: Do you have any comment about the fact that the name of the company that has been featuring in the latest news stories, Toi Ki Tua, as being the company that won this bid, is actually the name of a different company altogether, based out of Tauranga that is a ‘kaupapa Māori internship programme opening doors for Māori tertiary students to step into high-value professional careers across the Bay of Plenty.”??

Is this lack of due diligence the reason why the name of the company you have funded to the tune of $5 million has been changed to Toi Hourua.??

Do you think that the original Toi Ki Tua might have benefited from some of your funding that I understand is aimed at improving opportunities of young Māori and Pasifika in the technology world.?

5: On the name Toi Hourua - I went to the web site, which I assume you have paid for, and there I found an invitation “Hono Mai - Connecting People.”?

Did you know that so far a grand total of 7 people have taken up the opportunity to connect? That number will soon be 8 because I am going to try and connect to see if I can get some answers to what exactly it is that you are funding here. I have yet to see a description of how this fund will work, or the deliverables it will be measured against.?

In the meantime - are you able to point me to any?

6: Despite recent announcements by your CEO that We Are Indigo were far and away the best applicant, how do you explain this from another document released under the OIA?

?“At the conclusion of the second meeting the Evaluation Team endorsed the scores and rankings and agreed that:?

- All three proposals were high quality and any one of the three would be capable of acceptance.”

7: Finally, this question is for Minister Sepuloni.?

Minister, over the past few days we have seen a number of your colleagues and officials coming under fire for asking questions, or making statements in public, about issues that are of concern to them.?

The counter to that is the silence that has accompanied the “We Are Indigo” funding, or non funding, for months now. That silence has left doors open for all sorts of speculation to arise and claims and counter claims left to go unanswered.?

This situation centres around efforts to improve the opportunities for our rangatahi and the failure to address the questions that have arisen, openly and honestly, are impacting on that long overdue vision.?

“When will you step in and sort this?