Andrew Coster announced he was placed on leave to staff at 7:03pm on Tuesday, 11 November.<\/p>\n
Coster was announced as the chief executive of the SIA in September 2024, after about four years as Commissioner of Police.<\/p>\n
Further communications, released to Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act, show Coster asking two SIA staff to \u201ckeep developments as discussed today under your hat until confirmed\u201d.<\/p>\n
He wrote: \u201cTiming looks more likely to be next week. Will keep you posted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coster also wrote to a separate staffer on the same day with similar phrasing: \u201cThe timing of all this looks more likely to be next week. I\u2019ll get you to hold off until it\u2019s been announced, lest we start a rumour prematurely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The texts were sent in late November.<\/p>\n
In late November, Coster spoke about an announcement taking place the week prior. In early December, he resigned.<\/p>\n
Coster announced his formal resignation from the Social Investment Agency on December 3.<\/p>\n
An all-staff email, released under the OIA, shows Coster\u2019s final words as SIA boss, before his departure.<\/p>\n
At roughly 12.30pm on December 3, Coster wrote that it was with \u201csadness\u201d that he announced his resignation as Secretary for Social Investment, which he stated was effective from December 1.<\/p>\n
He also attached press releases from himself and from the Public Service Commissioner, \u201cso you can understand the background to this decision\u201d.<\/p>\n
Coster thanked his staff at the SIA, saying it had been \u201can absolute pleasure and privilege\u201d to work on such important kaupapa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been incredibly impressed by the quality of the people we have in the organisation and your willingness to go above and beyond to deliver on the challenging work programme we have had,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Coster finished his letter with an apology: \u201cI\u2019m sorry that I won\u2019t be continuing this journey with you. However, I will watch with interest as you continue to pursue better outcomes for all New Zealanders.\u201d<\/p>\n
He signed off with kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui, and the colloquial \u201cAndy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Andrew Coster’s resignation letter stated he would watch the agency’s work with interest.<\/p>\n
A separate email from Coster, sent at 2.31pm on the same day, contained similar wording and was sent to the Social Investment Board.<\/p>\n
The letter to the board reiterated that it had been a privilege to work on this \u201cimportant kaupapa\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for your wisdom shared and important input that continues [to] shape the work of social investment. As you all appreciate better than I do, this is an incredibly important opportunity for New Zealand, and I\u2019m sorry that I won\u2019t be continuing this journey with you,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Coster expressed thanks to board members, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve valued our conversations and the forthright perspective each of you has brought to assist the agency in its work. We are the better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a press statement on the day of his resignation, Coster added his decision to resign from the agency was \u201cacceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings identified in the Independent Police Conduct Authority\u2019s review of the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming during my tenure as Commissioner of Police\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he regretted the impact on the young woman at the centre of the matter, and that he had been \u201ctoo ready to trust and accept at face value Deputy Commissioner McSkimming\u2019s disclosure and explanations to me\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that police\u2019s handling of the whole matter was lacking and that I was ultimately responsible for those matters,\u201d Coster said at the time.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Newstalk ZB about Coster\u2019s resignation, Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said Coster \u201cdid the right thing and I respect him for that\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his resignation shows a high degree of humility and acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament\u2019s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Coster announced he was placed on leave to staff at 7:03pm on Tuesday, 11 November. Coster was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3041,20251,806,4282,36173,15119,148618,2740,1426,2203,40571,111,139,69,3044,12860,1072,52330,213,99525,33057,30812],"class_list":["post-258059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-agency","tag-andrew","tag-as","tag-boss","tag-continuing","tag-coster","tag-costers","tag-former","tag-investment","tag-journey","tag-letter","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-resignation","tag-revealed","tag-social","tag-sorry","tag-sports","tag-underfire","tag-wouldnt","tag-wrote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}