Kāinga Ora accepts Public Service Commission findings into sponsored article

The PSC was asked last November to look into how Kāinga Ora handled a disclosure concerning a sponsored article.

"The report has shown our handling of this matter was wrong and we fully accept that," says Vui Mark Gosche, Kāinga Ora, Chair.

"It wasn’t good enough.  I have said publicly previously that I was not satisfied with the decision by Kāinga Ora and its subsequent handling of the matters. I have made it very clear that it was unacceptable and I expect that it will not happen again.

"We have owned our mistakes and, as noted by the PSC, made changes so all Kāinga Ora people are aware of the importance of maintaining political neutrality at all times."

Mr Gosche says in the past few months Kāinga Ora has further developed its training, advice and guidance when it comes to how it approaches political neutrality.

This includes changes to its induction programme and training to highlight the environment Kāinga Ora works in, and the responsibilities employees have as public servants and the support available to people.

The agency has also made changes to approval, escalation and issues management processes and has enhanced its governance capability to provide advice and guidance on public sector standards, expectations, obligations and accountability.

"I am confident that Kāinga Ora has learnt from this experience, that changes to its organisational systems and processes have already been put in place, and that it will continue to work on further improvements to ensure that this kind of situation will not occur again."

Download a copy of the PSC report(external link)

Further information on the report by the Public Service Commission and material supplied by Kāinga Ora to the Commission is available here:

Supporting documents

• Cover letter [PDF, 503 KB] and response [PDF, 8.7 MB] to Te Kawa Mataaho (PSC) on 3 December 2021
• Response to PSC after request for more information [PDF, 2.7 MB] – 14 January 2022
• Letter from the Chair to the Commissioner, with CE letter to the Chair attached [PDF, 152 KB] – 2 March 2022