{"id":491295,"date":"2026-06-23T09:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491295\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:30:09","slug":"michael-heron-kc-to-lead-review-into-immigration-it-upgrade-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491295\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Heron KC to lead review into immigration IT upgrade scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was also alleged staff who expressed concerns about the project\u2019s viability were moved on to other workstreams. <\/p>\n

\"PublicPublic Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche wanted the review to conclude in a couple of months. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n

Alongside announcing Heron\u2019s role today, Roche set out the review\u2019s terms of reference, which included: <\/p>\n

What advice MBIE provided to ministers and whether it matched what officials knew about the project across its lifespan. Whether MBIE\u2019s conduct in relation to the project met code of conduct standards, public service principles and Cabinet Manual guidance.Assessing the \u201ccreative accounting\u201d allegations and whether investment management decisions met relevant Cabinet Office Circulars.What factors contributed to any deficiencies in MBIE\u2019s advice, for example organisational, governance, cultural or systemic factors or external pressures or incentives.What concerns were raised with and within MBIE about the project, including by MBIE employees, contractors, and vendors working on the project, how these concerns were responded to, and whether that response was appropriate. <\/p>\n

Heron would be given powers to \u201cissue production orders and witness summonses to ensure they have access to all relevant information, some of which may be held by individuals or third parties outside the public service\u201d.<\/p>\n

Heron would not determine \u201cemployment, disciplinary, civil or criminal liability of any individual\u201d, but could make findings of fault and make recommendations to Roche that further steps be taken to determine liability. <\/p>\n

Roche last week told the Herald it would be difficult for anyone found liable, who still worked in the public service, to keep their jobs. <\/p>\n

He expected the review would take about three or four months.<\/p>\n

Immigration officials didn\u2019t reveal project\u2019s fate in select committee<\/p>\n

In March, MBIE officials were questioned in a Parliament select committee about the project but didn\u2019t disclose it had been binned in November last year. <\/p>\n

Alison McDonald, who previously headed Immigration NZ which sat within MBIE, was asked by Labour\u2019s Phil Twyford about the risks posed to the project. <\/p>\n

As reported by RNZ today, she linked delays to the fast-paced evolution of technology and referenced ongoing work to ensure the country\u2019s identity management system was fit for purpose. <\/p>\n

Blakeley, who appeared alongside McDonald, echoed how the ministry was in the process of working out what the programme would look like. <\/p>\n

Stanford wouldn\u2019t comment on whether Blakeley and his officials should have disclosed more about the project to the select committee, referring to the commission\u2019s investigation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to pass judgment, and there may well be reasons why they were and weren\u2019t able to say things, but I haven\u2019t had a talk to my officials about that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MBIEMBIE chief executive Nic Blakeley acknowledged his ministry failed at multiple points. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n

Blakeley became MBIE chief executive earlier this year, not until after the project had been canned, but had previously held a deputy secretary role. Roche told the Herald last week he didn\u2019t believe Blakeley was liable for the project\u2019s failure. <\/p>\n

However, Stanford wouldn\u2019t explicitly express confidence in Blakeley. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see the outcome of the report before I make any judgments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s only been in the job for a few months, most of the people that were working on this project are no longer there, he is now tasked with making sure that the culture within MBIE is good and that the new leadership is strong so that we can avoid this happening in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Pearse is the deputy political editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was also alleged staff who expressed concerns about the project\u2019s viability were moved on to other workstreams.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26676,42833,215791,6727,17330,12513,2740,6442,917,296,12898,702,27124,7240,5494,42677,76566,111,43,139,69,10711,1523,3109,762,9644,2437,2552,246281,6211,61,14043,1533],"class_list":["post-491295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-allegations","tag-avoided","tag-biometric","tag-cabinet","tag-commissions","tag-failed","tag-former","tag-heron","tag-immigration","tag-into","tag-investigation","tag-it","tag-kc","tag-lead","tag-michael","tag-ministers","tag-misled","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officials","tag-over","tag-public","tag-review","tag-scandal","tag-security","tag-service","tag-solicitorgeneral","tag-system","tag-to","tag-upgrade","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491295","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=491295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}