Photo: RNZ/Asia King
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has confirmed that half the regional committees, and all of the specialist committees that examine and agree on lottery board grants applications have been scrapped.
There were 11 regional committees, six specialist committees and a national committee.
That has been replaced with six new regional committees and one new national committee.
There was also a sub-committee that would distribute the proceedings from online casino gambling.
DIA deputy secretary for partnerships and commissions Hoani Lambert said the changes were to simplify the structure of lottery distribution committees and would take effect from 1 July.
“This decision does not impact the amount of funding, nor the criteria that the funding can be provided for.
“These changes will allow for more strategic funding decisions. The intention is that the structure will be easier for applicants to navigate and will help attract quality candidates for the committee member roles.”
Lambert said that future funding decisions would continue to be guided by the Gambling Act 2003.
That set out a broad range of criteria that the funding could be provided for that met the definition of community purpose, Lambert said.
“The legislation provides guidance on groups that must be regarded when decisions are made by a committee (including Māori, pacific and other ethnic communities, women, youth and people with disabilities).”
Lambert said statutory bodies that were also allocated funding from the lottery grants board were not impacted, as well as Crown funds and Trust funds.
But chief executive tangata tiriti at Hui E! – the peak body representing the community voluntary sector – Katie Boxall said there was no assurance as to how funding applications would be filtered and treated going forward.
Smaller organisations risked missing out, she said.
“This is essentially how the decisions are made about the money. It’s not about the amount of money, but it’s who is deciding and where do those decisions sit.
“You can imagine that the specialist committees also have specialist decision makers, and so without those existing, all of those particular ring fence funds will be merged with all of the other funding.
“That’s where there’s a real concern about will this money still go to where it’s needed?”
Boxall said there was no consultation on the changes, and it was at odds with recommendations from a previous review.
She said there was a “fair amount of consultation” in the way which funding was allocated rather than who made the decisions.
“There was clear feedback from the sector that it should be more equitable (and) Māori and iwi were missing out,” Boxall said.
“So were some other already marginalised groups and what this does is take some of the ring-fenced money and pour it into the mainstream pot.”
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden said the changes were about easing access for individuals and groups applying.
Anybody who applied under the previous system could still apply; the only difference was now they would apply to the relevant regional committee, she said.
“This is purely an administrative change to help with efficiency and clarity.
“I also want to reassure and make clear that the new committees will subsume the functions of the specialist committees that have been removed.
“The needs of Māori, older people, Pacific people and other ethnic communities, women, youth, and people with disabilities will continue to be supported through the new regional committees and national committee structure.”
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