Surprisingly, TV One News decided for once to investigate the credentials of one of the Jacinda regime’s favored elites.
by Cam Slater on the BFD
Matthew Tukaki is one of New Zealand’s biggest racists and an online bully to boot. He has also carried on like a flash rat with a gold tooth. Except it turns out his CV is a bit… well… let’s say… embellished.
1News has been digging into his past and nothing is as it seems.
Checks weren’t done on Matthew Tukaki’s resume before he was appointed to a key government role.
And in the same week he was appointed to Director of the Suicide Prevention Office, 1News can exclusively reveal his CV holds inconsistencies.
Just over five years ago, Tukaki came home from Australia with claims of an extraordinary career, claiming he held down a role with the United Nations (UN) and led Drake International through the global financial crisis (GFC).
Back in New Zealand, he became the Maori spokesman on just about everything, and has taken on a number of government roles.
That includes chairing an advisory board to turn around the maligned ministry, Oranga Tamariki, being a director for the Workforce Development Council for the Tertiary Education Commission and this week he was appointed as the director of the Suicide Prevention Office.
The circumstances surrounding Tukaki’s departure at the UN are disputed.
In his Maori Council bio, Tukaki claimed he was directly appointed to the global entity by the then Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to sit as a member of the institution’s governing board. According to Tukaki, he undertook the position for over three years.
A UN spokesperson said it was an elected position, not an appointment by the Secretary General, and one which he held for less than a year.
“He then had to resign the role of Local Network Representative when he was asked to step off the [Global Compact Network Australia] board for an alleged serious breach of director’s duties, including misrepresenting himself at meetings with the Australian government.”
Tukaki disagrees with the spokesperson’s representation of his departure.
1News
Of course he disagrees – they always do when busted. But what about his fantabulist job at Drake? Yeah that’s bulldust too.
In various places, including on LinkedIn, his biography for the Maori Council, and the information he presented to the Tertiary Education Commission, Tukaki described leading Drake International through the GFC, and holding power of attorney for the Southern Hemisphere at the recruitment company.
A spokesperson for Drake International rebuffed Tukaki’s description.
They say he worked there for a year between 2007 and 2008, and a further month in 2010, and that his title in their records in Australia was ‘General Manager, Government and Public Sector’.
A further top source at the company said Tukaki “overstated” the scope of his employment. When queried whether Tukaki had led the company through the GFC, the short response was, “not at all”.
When questioned about his statements of leading Drake through the GFC, Tukaki was to the point: “Yes, absolutely.” In a later statement provided by Tukaki, he said his job was to grow revenue and sales, which coincided with the GFC.
1News
Well, Drake was on his CV, but that’s about all that matches.
Oranga Tamariki never asked for a CV when it charged Tukaki with turning the organisation around and paying him at a rate of $1000 a day, on the taxpayer dime.
There was no requirement to check Tukaki’s employment history, says the Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis.
He was well-known and had previously been appointed to government positions, Davis says.
“So we just trusted in what they had done, and I’d heard about the stuff he’d done apparently overseas. He was also the head of the Maori Council,” Davis said.
1News
I’ll bet you a dollar to a knob of goat poo that there is more to this story; 1News has only just got going on it, and now the story is out there others will come forward about his dodgy past from his school days to the present.
What is delicious is watching Kelvin Davis defend the indefensible. Matthew Tukaki will be yet another example of the cosy relationship and jobs for the bros with little or no scrutiny, leading to an increasing perception that this Labour Government is corrupt or at the very least dodgier than a week-old dinner box from KFC that’s been sitting in the boot of a car for as long.
by Brook van Velden, Deputy Leader of ACT
The incompetence of the Labour Government was clear for all to see Sunday evening on 1News with the appointment of someone to a critical role without even checking his CV.
There is nothing more important than the protection of vulnerable children. And yet Matthew Tukaki was appointed to a role at Oranga Tamariki without anyone checking his CV which appears to be embellished.
Minister Kelvin Davis’s response was the most shocking part of the story. Claiming that a CV was not even required and simply shrugging his shoulders when the allegations about Tukaki were put to him.
Tukaki is a highly political person, acting as a commentator who praises the Labour Government and calls Opposition MPs names like “grubs” and “thugs.” His payoff for publicly endorsing Labour are plum jobs that he may not even be qualified for.
Health Minister Andrew Little who recently appointed Tukaki as the Director of Suicide Prevention and Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis need to explain how he got these roles, whether they stand by his appointment and what steps they’re taking to ensure nothing like this happens again.
Corruption after Corruption …. when will Labour be held to account – what an absolute disgrace to all NewZealanders. Ardern should be held to account, lies lies and more lies
Tukaki is a serial liar and bullshitter, I watched him on Maori TV, probably the Marae program make the claim that if he didn’t know the answer to something, he made it up and then dared anyone to disagree with him, indicating that labeling them racist usually stopped them in their tracks. He is a snake
When he is taking the heat I have to wonder who he is taking the heat off a more serious matter.
Recently heard him refer to anyone who made an adverse comment about his great friend Clarke Gayford that they were just a pack of racist Hua’s. This guy is nothing short of a total con-artist. Has anyone investigated his role/involvement in one of the Maori Councils when he re-directed a million dollar loan to his new Maori groups that in which he held an executive position?
As a journalist I had some contact with Tutaki or I should say it never happened. In several phone calls/e mails to Maori Council (his secretary included) I asked for comment on ownership of water. Tutaki never phoned back. Simply put, my reaction, I wondered is he a rude, impolite person, all-consumed by his ego, probably too arrogant to be bothered. The answer in the light of subsequent events is “yes”.
The sad aspect is that Tutaki and minister Kelvin Davis (a hapless, hopeless MP and Minister) are not good representatives of Maori (i.e. those with Maori forbears) or any group. But in this case, they do “Maori” no credit.
But it should be said cronyism and shady dealings are not confined to any one ethnic background. I can think of some shady deals by European Kiwis!
Judge a man or woman by his/her actions not by ancestry.
Too many today, reject any suspect deals by crying ‘you’re racist.”
Rubbish. The judgement is on the misdeeds, ti.e. the person, not his or her forbears.
Bro I’m a Tutaki He is a
TUKAKI???
Correction please and change this because it’s fake news and misinformation!.
Sorry, we spelled it wrong in the original headline, then we corrected it.