National led Government has done NOTHING to bring my significant conduct/performance complaint to Police Commissioner’s attention since I first raised it in October 2023! Self-declared “incredibly serious about law & order” party have ZERO serious interest in addressing totally unacceptable PNHQ performance! “We’re going to be tough on crime” campaign trail bluster was for votes only. Instead of providing substantive value to the Public, National led Government are chasing ‘tough guy’ media clickbait headlines.
While I have no direct evidence Associate Police Minister Casey Costello & Police Minister Mark Mitchell covered up my major complaint, their behaviour is damning! I sent OIA requests to both of them effectively asking “What did you do with the significant Police conduct/performance complaint I sent you?”. This OIA request brought my complaint to their active attention. Still, they both effectively responded “We passively forwarded it to Police’s Ministerial Services” – 10/12 times for Mitchell/Costello respectively!!
Bar flying to Wellington, kicking in their office doors & shouting at them “FFS, Properly manage my Police complaint!!!”; there was nothing more I could do to bring it to their attentions. As overviewed below, especially Luxon, their party leaders were likewise hopeless!!
Costello & Mitchell’s behaviours indicate Police’s stubborn tribal culture valuing loyalty over integrity is still part of their personality. I would not be surprised if one or both of them actually skim read my complaint & reacted, as I perceive all the complaint request named Police personnel did, along the lines of “Shit, there are a lot of PNHQ personnel in here – some of whom I like. I wish this guy would go away”!. I will (probably) never know.
In Budget 2026, the supposed “incredibly serious about law & order” National led Government interestingly decreased Police’s forecasted budget.
2026 – $2.89B
2027 – $2.845B (1.6% Decrease)
2028 – $2.662B (6.4% Decrease)
2029 & 20230 – $2.602B (2.3% Decrease)
As each Minister’s office has 15-20 staff, my guess is each one costs Taxpayers at least $1.8M pa in salaries alone. Before I started contacting Ministers’ office, naively thought there would be a correspondence ‘filter’ in each of them. Someone who determined “That email’s abuse – ignore. That email’s aimless opinion rant – ignore. That respectful email (with formal letter attached) is seeking seemingly justified service – I will delegate/send it to an appropriate person for action/response”. Even with an attached formal letter, it seems to me 99% of correspondence received by Ministers offices goes straight to the shredder!
My only request of the supposed “incredibly serious about law & order” Ministers (offices) since October 2023(!!) was take a mere 5 minutes to bring my significant conduct complaint to the Police Commissioner’s attention. As I have contacted 5 Ministers (offices), merely 5 minutes service has not provided for 2.75 years from a combined $9+M pa of salaries – damn ‘scary’!
Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) & Paul Goldsmith
On 17 January 2024, emailed (cced to Cath Anyan – Case Resolution Manager, Kevin Currie – CEO, Stuart Graham – Investigations Manager & Kenneth Johnston – Board Chairman) my conduct/performance complaint to IPCA – requesting they open an Investigation into PNHQ’s disgustingly woeful handling of my case over the last 3 years. Despite 24 follow-up emails (all ccing Currie, Graham & Johnston), including updated versions of the complaint, (through to 26 June) no response.
Had IPCA taken action in January, as they should have, a further 2.5 years of PNHQ corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty would not have been exposed.
Frustrated with IPCA’s non-response, on 15 March, I “VERY IMPORTANT & URGENT“ escalated this issue to IPCA Minister Paul Goldsmith. Despite 14 follow-up emails (all ccing Prime Minister Christopher Luxon), no response. Goldsmith does not even hold his portfolio agencies accountable to their core responsibilities!
Had Goldsmith taken very simple action in March, as he should have, a further 2.25 years of PNHQ corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty would not have been exposed.
On 23 February 2025, an IPCA media story prompted me to “APPALLING – COME ON – VERY IMPORTANT & URGENT!!!” email Goldsmith requesting him to address:
– with his office staff, why they did not bring my above 2024 matter to his attention &/or provide me with any assistance
– with Kenneth Johnston, the unacceptable conduct of his staff
On 29 April, given no response, I OIA requested “copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my 23 February email request between Goldsmith’s Office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to within Government”. Despite 17 follow-up emails (last 11 titled “VERY IMPORTANT & URGENT”), no response.
On 27 March 2026, thanks to intervention of below Briget Ridden, Goldsmith’s Office acknowledged receipt of this OIA request – response due by 9 April. After 2 follow-up emails, on 22 April, received an ‘extraordinary’ response.
Goldsmith confirmed he had taken no action on my 23 February 2025 email, of no surprise!
Then, Goldsmith stated “You have been informed many times IPCA is an independent Crown entity that operates at arm’s length from the Government. As such, Ministers are not able to comment on, or become involved in, individual complaints before the IPCA. lncluding by my office on 11 January 2024”.
I had not been informed “many times”. My complaint to Goldsmith was about unacceptable IPCA staff conduct – that they had twice totally ignored my lodged Police complaint – I had already unsuccessfully tried to resolve with their Board, CEO & some Management not, as he was implying, challenging their complaint review decision. Of course, the only appropriate escalation person was him!
Finally, to really ‘hash’ this straightword resolution issue, Goldsmith stated “Due to the volume & frequency of your correspondence, my office has decided to block your email address”! So, it is supposedly my fault it took Goldsmith over 2 years to respond to my complaint about IPCA staff conduct & his office staff’s lack of assistance!
So, just 1/2 weekly “Look forward to hearing from you re this issue” follow-up emails is ‘excessive’ to Goldsmith! So after a short while, seemingly according to Goldsmith, I should give up pursuing resolution!
So, even though Goldsmith knew I had to engage Ridden to get a response from him & tried to help him with his job via the below mentioned “Systematic ipca Failures of Victims” document, my effort is ‘rewarded’ with being blocked!
‘Congratulations’ Goldsmith on your arrogance, disrespect, ‘keeping your head in the sand’, lack of basic comprehension & personal responsibility, Ministerial neglect & Serve the Public ‘ethos’!
On 23 April 2025, I resubmitted the performance complaint to IPCA. Despite 37 follow-up emails (last 30 “VERY IMPORTANT & URGENT – Widespread PNHQ Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of Duty” ccing Andrew Coleman – Board Member, Currie, Goldsmith, Johnston, Andrew MacNeill – Assurance Manager & Liz Sinclair – Board Member), including updated versions of the complaint, (through to 12 November) no response.
IPCA have investigated relatively minor single incident complaints about individuals:
– alcohol consumption while off-duty
– attends briefing while intoxicated & off duty
– covering vehicle registration plates while hunting
– theft of mobile telephone
– trespass onto private property
– verbal abuse
yet completely unacceptably ignored my 5.5 years’ experience of many PNHQ personnel’s corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty, while claiming to stand for: “core values of accountability, integrity, timeliness, trustworthiness & vigilance”! IPCA should be renamed DPCA – Districts Police Conduct Authority, LPCA – Limited Police Conduct Authority, MPCA – Minor Police Conduct Authority or PPCA – Petty Police Conduct Authority!
On 12 June, fed up with Goldsmith’s (office) non-response, I “IMPORTANT & URGENT” emailed “REALLY appreciate your assistance to (be pointed in the right direction to) get a response from paul goldsmith (office)” up to 28 Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet (DPMC) and Internal Affairs senior personnel.
After 29 follow-up emails, on 10 February 2026, received “Your email has been forwarded onto Ministerial Services team at DPMC… I will forward your email onto Hon Goldsmith’s office” response from Jenna Hansen, Accountability & Ministerial Services Manager, DPMC. As Jenna was not a DPMC personnel I had been emailing, it had taken presumably 1 of her 5 weekly contacted colleagues 7.5 months to forward her 1 of my emails!
Immediately responded with “Here is One email with All the outstanding goldsmith matters: … Appreciate you forwarding this email to goldsmith’s office, in hope Finally make progress on these matters – Thanks :)”. Despite 21 “Appreciate your confirmation forwarded my below email to goldsmith’s office 🙂 ” follow-up emails (through to 14 July), no response.
Between 15 March 2024 & 13 June 2025, Goldsmith received 6 times my actual – not just an email – (clearly marked in both email subject line & document title “Calling for Resignation of Andrew Coster” & “Widespread PNHQ Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of Duty”) complaint. Not once, did he appropriately manage the complaint!
On 8 July, Chief Ombudsman informed me “IPCA…told us…it has no intention of responding to ‘police performance complaint’ letters you have been sending…as these relate to substantially same matters as those already investigated by them”.
An ‘insane’ IPCA claim!! There is no way my IPCA submitted complaints are “substantially the same matters”!
My first complaint” was just 5 pages of only 1 Police personnel’s conduct prior to 7 May 2021. My current complaint is 64 pages of many Police personnel’s conduct after 30 July 2021. It makes a mere 1 paragraph reference to the previous complaint. Every other person mentioned in this complaint is not mentioned in previous complaint!
Despite emailing on 8 July the above IPCA personnel – “There is No way the attached complaints are ‘substantially the same matters’!” – their non-responsiveness since 17 January 2024 continued!!
On 14 November 2025, I resubmitted this complaint to Police’s online portal. On 18 November, received “Your complaint has been reviewed &, as it is a duplication of your complaint made to police in 2021 (IPCA ref…), it will not be processed as a complaint. IPCA has been consulted in this process, and they agree“.
IPCA knows this is a NONSENSE claim! My 2021 complaint was about 1 personnel’s conduct prior to May 2021. This complaint is clearly about numerous personnel’s conduct from August 2021. There is ZERO “duplication”! Immediately responded:
No response.
(On 25 June 2026; emailed Coleman, Currie, Johnston, MacNeill & Sinclair for the first time since November – to discover they had placed my address on a “Nuisance emails” block list! So, IPCA did not like the truth of their appalling conduct being exposed! ‘Well done’ IPCA, your integrity is even worse than I thought)
On 28 November, sent Goldsmith 2 pages “Calling for DISMISSAL of ipca Board & CEO” letter & 4 pages “Systematic ipca Failures of Victims” document with recommendations as to how organization can improve their customer service & concept description of an IPCA alternative with transformational Public credibility. Despite 20 follow-up emails – last 11 marked “VERY/IMPORTANT & URGENT” (through to 20 April 2026), no response.
IPCA’s devoid of integrity, and serious misconduct & neglect of duty since January 2024 has been a huge disservice to Police & the Public! At that time, my Police performance complaint was ‘only’ 14 pages in length – now, it has ‘ballooned’ to 64 pages! An extra 50 pages of PNHQ’s corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty has been exposed & remains unaddressed by IPCA’s negligence since January 2024!
15 March 2026 was 2 years anniversary of Goldsmith’s apathy!
On 22 April, Goldsmith refused my OIA request for copy of the December Cabinet strengthening oversight of Police paper – citing “to maintain constitutional conventions protecting confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers & officials”.
As I doubt there is much Government sensitive information in that paper, immediately responded “Since October, my Very simple offer has been I am most happy to work with a Respectful member of your team – to further expand on my (associated) ideas/solutions. As No Such member has been forthcoming!, for my input, send me a redacted version of the paper. As none of your ‘experts’ would have Directly dealt with ipca &/or police, my perspective will be Uniquely Beneficial”. Despite 28 follow-up emails (through to 20 July), no response.
For his $320,600 salary; Public/Taxpayers deserve a MUCH better IPCA Minister than irresponsible & unresponsive Goldsmith.
On 30 April, fed up with not making any progress with Goldsmith, emailed David Seymour “Appreciate your Deputy Prime Minister involvement to hold paul goldsmith accountable for his Neglect of Ministerial duty 🙂 … I acknowledge luxon Should be holding goldsmith accountable, though getting Any action or response from him or his office is Near impossible!!”. On 13 May, after 1 follow-up email, received “Your email regarding holding Minister Goldsmith accountable have been received & passed onto David” response from Seymour’s office. Despite 9 follow-up emails (through to 16 July), no response.
On 16 May, “IMPORTANT” emailed Chris Bishop “Appreciate your assistance to ‘wake up’ paul goldsmith from his Neglect of Ministerial duty 🙂 … I acknowledge luxon Should be holding goldsmith accountable, though getting Any action or response from him or his office is Near impossible! In anticipation, Appreciate your efforts to FINALLY ‘Sort Out’ goldsmith :)”. Despite 8 follow-up emails (through to 13 July), no response.
On 13 June, similarly emailed Erica Stanford. Despite 4 follow-up emails (through to 13 July), no response.
On 20 July, similarly emailed Nicola Willis.
On 4 June, upon realising Justice Parliamentary Committee has IPCA accountability
On 22 June, after 2 follow-up emails, received “The committee has considered the correspondence received from you to date & has declined to take any further action at this time” response!
Immediately responded:
Despite 25 June follow-up email, no response.
On 2 July, seeing Chair Andrew Bayly had resigned, resubmitted my request for proper IPCA accountability to the Justice Parliamentary Committee. Despite 2 follow-up emails, no response.
On 16 June – similarly to Bishop, Seymour, Stanford & Willis – “IMPORTANT” emailed Rachel Hayward, Cabinet Secretary, Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet (DPMC). Added Janine Smith, Deputy Chief Executive, Policy & Delivery Unit to 23 June follow-up email. Added Ben King, Chief Executive, to 30 June follow-up email. Added Jeremy Clarke-Watson, Deputy Chief Executive, National Security & Resilience to 7 July follow-up email. Added Alan Cassidy, Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate & Chief People Officer and Penny Langley, Branch Performance, Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to 14 July follow-up email. Added Sean Bolton, Deputy Chief Executive, Transformation & System Governance to 21 July follow-up email. As above, for zero progress, I extensively pursued these DIA & DPMC avenues from June 2025 to February 2026!
On 14 July, “IMPORTANT: Appreciate your assistance to ‘wake up’ paul goldsmith from his 7.5 months Neglect of Ministerial duty 🙂 ” emailed Andrea King, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Justice Ministry. Despite 21 July follow-up email, no response.
If NZ had a Prime Minister who actually managed his Ministers; issues would be dealt with in a timely manner without having to involve other people!
Ruth Money
On 3 October 2025; emailed Money, Chief Victim Advisor – who directly reports to Goldsmith – “requesting your assistance to bring an end to this 2 years Large systemic Failure Saga 😊 I see you report to goldsmith… I didN’t necessarily expect to hear from goldsmith himself. However, 1 of his circa 15 office staff Should have provided Some assistance! In all this time, I have received Just 1 response from his office – even that required the involvement of the Privacy Commissioner’s office!“
On 8 October, Money replied “As an independent ministerial advisor, Chief Victim Advisor (CVA) is unable to advocate for individual victims”!
Immediately emailed Money “Acknowledging ‘CVA is unable to advocate for individual victims’. Next time you meet goldsmith, I would REALLY APPRECIATE you Commenting along the lines of ‘I’ve been contacted by an Andrew Flanagan who has been contacting your office since March of last year about problems he’s having with ipca. He hasn’t heard from your office. Over to you to get one of your office staff to contact him to resolve his ipca issues’. This is Not advocating for me – Big Thanks in anticipation 🙂 “
“As per attached document, implementation of (an externally appointed maverick/superstar) ‘Service Accountability & Resolution’ Deputy Commissioner in police’s Executive Team has LOTS of Merit (to at least further explore)”.
Plus, took time to write above mentioned 4 pages “Systematic ipca Failures of Victims” document. On 9 October, emailed Money additional systematic ipca failures of victims information.
Despite 65 follow-up emails – last 35 marked “VERY/IMPORTANT & URGENT” (through to 13 July 2026), no response.
On 18 July, further to the “revealing comparative experience” (at the bottom of the page), emailed Money (ccing Kibblewhite):
Money has the gall to say on her email automatic reply “Thank you for taking the time to write to me and share your concern, feedback &/or experience. I know this can take a lot of time, energy & courage”
I provided Money with 2 constructive idea proposals for her job – 1 of which was subsequently ‘endorsed’ by IPCA – the IPCA document I took time to write for her. In ‘return’ – Money did not even have the respect to thank me for my constructive ideas! – Money did not even take as little as 10 seconds to mention me to Goldsmith, to start to bring an end to my unsuccessful since-March 2024 attempts to get his assistance with the IPCA escalation issue!
If Money had provided timely very simple assistance, the Matt Fitzgerald NONSENSE probably would not have occurred.
Money’s hypocrisy:
– Despite telling me she does not advocate for specific victims, “Money said she was happy to assist with terms of reference & transparency“
– “beyond disappointing … maintains its obstructive position”, while I am well beyond disappointed with Money’s maintained obstructive position of repeated refusing to provide as little as 10 seconds assistance for the last 9.5 months!
– “Best practice is open & transparent process that victims can have faith in” says do as I say but not as I do Money!
– “I remain concerned about this process”, while I remain very concerned Money is literally paid to serve the Public & providing as little as 10 seconds assistance is not “privileged” either – it should be “No problem, of course”!
– “What concerns me most is people don’t take this issue seriously”, “There should be specialist investigation”, “lost victim’s trust & confidence” & “certainly best practice is involved expert” says Money who does not care in slightest IPCA have totally ignored & even LIED for 2.5 years about my widespread Police corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty complaint!
– “I’m deeply concerned we have had a very bumpy road when it comes to trust & confidence in the police” & “I’m incredibly confident in our police force“, while being aware of & doing absolutely nothing for the last 9.5 months to progress/resolve my unaddressed since October 2023(!) widespread Police corruption – up to 66 personnel each engaging in multiple corrupt acts – and serious misconduct & neglect of duty complaint!
– Money appreciated “urgency & professionalism” Police showed by carrying out the rapid review, while providing zero professionalism & urgency herself! She has repeatedly refused to take just 10 seconds to say to Goldsmith “After 7.5 months, you should really take action on Mr Flanagan’s letter”
Andrew Kibblewhite
On 16 December 2025; cced Kibblewhite, Secretary for Justice “IMPORTANT: paul, given its Seriousness, I am disappointed there has been No response from you yet to my 28 November letter. I look forward to your TIMELY commitment to follow through on my dismissal recommendations” Goldsmith email. Despite 51 follow-up emails – last 35 marked “VERY/IMPORTANT & URGENT” (through to 30 June 2026), no response.
Caroline Greaney & Briget Ridden
On 7 March 2026, emailed Greaney, Deputy Secretary Policy, Justice “Appreciate your assistance to get paul goldsmith response to the attached issue – Thanks in anticipation”. On 9 March, received “This has been forwarded onto relevant unit for action” response.
On 10 March, received “Goldsmith’s office have no record of receiving your 29 April 2025 OIA request. I have shared latest email thread with Ministerial office, highlighting your OIA request” letter from Ridden, Ministerial Services General Manager, Department of Internal Affairs.
Immediately responded with above Hansen “Here is One email with All the outstanding goldsmith matters: … Appreciate you forwarding this email to goldsmith’s office, in hope Finally make progress on these matters – Thanks :)”. On 18 March, after an “Appreciate your confirmation forwarded my below email to goldsmith’s office” follow-up email, received “Confirming I shared the email thread with the office on 10 March… I will alert the office you have contacted me wanting assurance of receipt” Ridden response.
Kibblewhite & Money could have taken this action up to 5.5 months earlier but could not be bothered providing this very simple service!!
On 1 April, after 2 follow-up emails, received “I’ve passed on your concern to the team to aid with this” response from Ridden. On 8 June, after 8 follow-up emails, she referred me to Ombudsman &/or Privacy Commissioner. Immediately responded my unaddressed by Goldsmith for 6+ months “Calling for DISMISSAL of ipca Board & CEO” letter is beyond their jurisdictions & expressed “Appreciate you Again following up with goldsmith’s office 🙂 “. On 16 June, after a follow-up email, Ridden informed could not be of any further assistance – immediately requested her most appropriate person to contact next for assistance recommendation. On 17 June, Ridden responded “I cannot offer you any further guidance”!
On 1 July, “VERY IMPORTANT & URGENT. Really Appreciate your goldsmith assistance. 7 months ago, I raised with him ipca board & senior management Corruption concerns – yet, Still no action” recontacted Greaney. On 25 July, after 2 follow-up emails “REALLY Appreciate you saying to goldsmith “How about I delegate this (attached) letter to someone appropriate within Justice (Not andrew kibblewhite), get them to check out/verify Mr Flanagan’s claims & ipca’s response and brief us on recommended disciplinary actions if any?” emailed Greaney.
On 17 July, frustrated with above DPMC personnel’s repeated non-response, “I would Really Appreciate you asking around &/or having rethink who Should be able to end paul goldsmith’s Prolonged Apathy” emailed Ridden. On 22 July, received Ridden’s rude response:
Which prompted me to send the following letter to Ridden’s Manager, Hoani Lambert, Deputy Secretary Partnerships & Commissions, Department of Internal Affairs.
(Lobby for Good are receiving numerous reports from NZers who have been failed by the very agency designed to protect them – IPCA. IPCA is supposed to be Public’s last resort when Police fail or make unreasonable decisions.
But what happens when IPCA gets it wrong? What happens when they dismiss valid complaints or side with Police without proper investigations? Nothing! There is no independent body you can complain to if IPCA fails you. System effectively ‘forces’ you to give up! That is not good enough – accountability can’t have a dead end.
Mark Mitchell
A police “service” hypocrite who, despite having 13(!) office staff, doesn’t provide any service to the Public!
– On 5 October 2023, the Prime Minister’s Office forwarded my correspondence to Police Minister Mitchell.
– Since 6 October, despite 11 emails with the subject line “IMPORTANT – Corruption and GROSS misconduct & neglect of duty”, no action/response from Mitchell.
– Since 11 October, despite 60 emails (including updated versions of the complaint) with the subject line “Case calling for Resignation of Andrew Coster”, no action/response from Mitchell.
– Numerous times I have explained my belief 385 PNHQ ‘deadwood’ constabulary (total of $50+M pa salary) could be made redundant or reassigned to frontline without any reduction in PNHQ’s (currently woeful) ‘service’, no action/response from Mitchell.
– Numerous times I have mentioned my reasonable assumption 250 of these 385 PNHQ constabulary would agree to return to the frontline – Mitchell knew Police were not going to otherwise achieve the ‘frontline numbers net increase of 500 by November 2025’ initiative, no action/response from Mitchell.
(A 12 February 2026 OIA response confirmed Mitchell was largely responsible for failure of the ‘frontline numbers net increase of 500 by November 2025’ initiative! “In late-2023, following a review of the initial training curriculum, Police – at Mitchell’s request – extended the RNZPC recruit course from 16 to 20 weeks. This change required a temporary pause to recruit wings commencing & led to a 13-weeks gap between graduations – from February to May 2024. During this period, constabulary strength reduced by 150 FTEs”.)
Fed up with Mitchell’s non-response, on 16 December 2024, I submitted an OIA request to him: “On 24 September, 30 July, 27 May, 28 & 6 April, 5 March, 26 & 4 February 2024 and 28 December & 11 October 2023; I sent a complaint regarding widespread corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty experienced over 3+ years with pnhq personnel to the minister. I never received an acknowledgement or response from him/his office.
Requesting copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to that complaint between the minister/his office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to police.”
On 4 February 2025, Mitchell responded he had merely “FYI” forwarded my letter to Police’s Ministerial Services (MS) 10 times from 11 October 2023 to 24 September 2024!!
So:
– from the 2nd time, Mitchell did not have the very basic complaint management skill to say to MS “As this performance issue remains unaddressed, please forward the complaint to Coster or somebody else appropriate within Police for action &/or response”!
– from the 3rd time, Mitchell did not have the very basic complaint resolution skill to think “As MS aren’t forwarding the complaint to Coster or somebody else appropriate within Police for action &/or response, I’ll do it myself”!
– Mitchell had 10 opportunities to ‘nip’ this issue ‘in the bud’. Instead, 10 times he did nothing effective! A lot more corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty occurred after Mitchell first became aware of this Police performance issue in October 2023!
On 3 June, in a letter refusing my OIA request for generic Police documents, Mitchell stated “I understand from your substantial correspondence to myself & my ministerial colleagues you are dissatisfied with the way police handled a report you made in 2021… Police have advised me you have already made complaints regarding Police’s handling of the matter through the appropriate channels, including IPCA, which did not find any evidence of Police misconduct or neglect of duty. The nature of your OIA request leads me to believe your intention is to gather information to further your grievances… This conclusion is confirmed by the high volume of correspondence that surrounds your requests; which is often openly insulting to myself, my colleagues & Police staff, and is plainly written to cause distress or inconvenience”.
The UTTER ARROGANCE of this Mitchell comment!! By 3 June 2025, it had been 20 months since I started making very simple requests of Mitchell to bring my Police performance complaint to the direct attention of the Commissioner. At the end of each request, was stated “I look forward to your confirmation”. Mitchell, because you never once confirmed, of course I had to send you follow-up emails & my frustration grew! Plus, Mitchell, you never fulfilled my very simple requests – instead, you FYIed my complaint to MS 10 damn times where it ‘died’ 10 damn times!! Then, after 20 months of very simple requests, you allowed yourself to be sidetracked by your Police contact – my 2021 IPCA lodged complaint was ‘done & dusted’ in my mind in 2021 – it has been totally irrelevant ever since!
Mitchell, you are paid to serve the Public. This Public member has repeatedly made a mere 1-minute totally justified request of you since 5 October 2023. Not only have you not completed that 1-minute task, you then had the UTTER GALL to effectively blame me for your total lack of “confirmation” communication! Despite being paid to serve the Public, you wholeheartedly supported your blatantly lying Police contact – Fairness to All be damned!
Mitchell, you are a disgrace to simplicity! My requests & your confirmation communication could not be more simple – You fulfilled neither of them for 2.5 years!!
Immediately responded “Hi Mark,
IMPORTANT & URGENT: Widespread PNHQ Personal Corruption and (Serious) Misconduct & Neglect of Duty
‘Thank’ you for your letter dated today.
Finally, I have your attention regarding this significant police performance issue
Action Points:
– IMMEDIATELY bring my enclosed performance complaint to richard chambers’ attention, instructing him to (initially) respond by 6 June. You forwarding my letter to chambers with a “CC me/us into your response to Mr Flanagan” isn’t politically influencing/intervening with my case.
– Get Paul Goldsmith to instruct IPCA to investigate my police performance complaint. Ensuring IPCA do their core job isn’t politically influencing/intervening with my case. As chambers has 22+ times totally ignored me since 20 November 2024, he cannot be trusted to solely appropriately address my performance complaint.
I look forward to your timely commitment to follow through on my action points.
Andrew Flanagan”
Despite 31 follow-up emails (through to 12 November), no response.
5 October 2025 marked 2 years of Mitchell’s APATHY!! For 2 years, Mitchell did not complete the 1 minute task of bringing my performance complaint to the Police Commissioner’s attention!
For 2 years, Mitchell did not do anything effective to address my experienced widespread PNHQ corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty!
Between 11 October 2023 & 12 November 2025, Mitchell received 30 times my actual – not just an email – (clearly marked in both email subject line & document title “Calling for Resignation of Andrew Coster” & “Widespread PNHQ Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of Duty”) complaint! Not once, did he appropriately manage the complaint!
On 16 November, OIA requested “Name of Police person(s) in ‘Police have advised me’ of your 3 June letter”. On 12 December, Mitchell responded “I believe your intention is to gather information to further your grievances. As your request is therefore an abuse of the right to request official information, it is refused under section 18(h) of the OIA – as it is frivolous or vexatious”!
After 2+ years, Mitchell still did not simplistically understand I did not have a Police “grievance”! I had an unaddressed conduct/performance complaint. Every year, 5k NZers have their Police complaints investigated/reviewed – for 2+ years, I had been merely requesting same service received by 5k NZers pa!
Mitchell has SUPER STUBBORN ARROGANCE!!
– Mr Flanagan, despite your repeated totally justified very simple 1-minute request since 5 October 2023, we are doing things my way!
– Mr Flanagan, despite my way not making any progress, I will continue with my way!
– Mr Flanagan, I will blame you for my inability to communicate at an elementary level!
– Mr Flanagan, even after you have explained I have been irrelevantly sidetracked by my Police contact, I will still egotistically stubbornly not correct my ways to very simply serve Public member you!
In all Mitchell’s Police Commissioner interactions since 11 October 2023, not once did he say to either of them “There’s Public member wanting to bring a serious PNHQ performance issue to your attention. If you’re unaware of it, contact your MS Advisor or I can email you the Public member’s complaint”! As it is a conservative/reasonable assumption Mitchell was in contact with the Police Commissioner an average of 2 times per week, that is another 250 lost opportunities over the last 2.5 years!!
From the 4.5 minutes mark of the below video, Mitchell confesses he ‘manages’ his office in a a quite irresponsible manner – definitely not in a ‘serving the Public’ way!
Section 16 of Policing Act 2008 sets out the Police Commissioner & Minister relationship. Commissioner is responsible to the Minister for: – carrying out the functions & duties of Police – general conduct of Police – effective & efficient management of Police. As this experience confirms, Mitchell does not hold the Police Commissioner accountable to these responsibilities!
Surely, a great way for Mitchell to monitor such is Public feedback – yet, as revealed in the above video, he sees hardly any of it coming into his office!
Real life example: in early 2024, emailed Mitchell a proposal to achieve the extra 500 frontline Police by November 2025. As I believe PNHQ is overstaffed by 385 constabulary, restructure operation – with reasonable expectation 250 of them would agree to return to the frontline i.e. half of the target achieved.
As these 3 Police loyal Ministerial Services Private Secretaries probably have friends with cushy PNHQ jobs, of course, Mitchell & Police leadership never saw my proposal! These 3 people are not impartial/of true value to the Minister!
Effectively & quite irresponsibly, Mitchell said to Public in that interview “As I am very unlikely to see it, little point emailing my office about anything to do with any of my portfolios”! Some other Ministers would have been thinking “Dumb thing to reveal on TV about our office operations, ‘thanks’ mark”. (Accept there are much more responsible Ministers than Mitchell – Costello & Goldsmith too, who will not be using his appalling ‘Lets not serve Public’ method)
On 2 December 2025, Mitchell appeared in front of the Justice select committee. From the 2 hours 12.5 minutes mark of this video, he flatly denied Police had a culture problem! Even worse, Mitchell repeatedly had the GALL to claim since becoming Police Minister he had been relentingly focused on improving their “integrity & standards”! Mitchell is in no position to comment on anybody else’s integrity & standards, when his own such are barely existent/significantly lacking!
There is no point having the Police Commissioner reporting to a Minister who does not hold them accountable for their operation’s corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty. As this since-January 2021 experience proves, PNHQ cannot be trusted to ‘police’ themselves! In fact, as pointed out, PNHQ from very bottom to very top go to extraordinary lengths to block/ignore accountability & corrective action requests from the Public!
Mitchell did Police personnel a huge disservice by mismanaging this complaint first time around in October 2023. Then, it was ‘only’ 14 pages in length. Now, it is 64 pages. Mitchell’s elementary Ministerial neglect meant another 50 pages of Police personnel’s corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty over an additional 2.75 years was exposed!
This experience proves Mitchell is not, as he claims, “incredibly serious about law & order”. Instead, this experience confirms Police’s research proven tribal culture which values loyalty over integrity still ‘pumps strongly through his veins’!
On 3 March 2026, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour responded to my March & June 2025(!) Official Information Act requests “…information requested is more closely connected with Minister of Police functions. As such, have transferred your request to Hon Mark Mitchell…”. Used this unexpected – stopped following up Seymour at end of 2025 – opportunity to email Mitchell.
After a 9 March follow-up email, on 20 March received:
What a guy! Mitchell moved blame to Police for HIS 2.5 years of total apathy, incompetence, irresponsibility & lack of leadership!
Immediately responded with:
In 23 & 30 March, 8 & 23 April, 5 May & 15 June letters yet again refusing OIA requests for generic Police documents, Mitchell yet again ‘trotted out’ his “I believe the intention of this request is to further your grievances” line! Immediately repeated each time with most of my above 3 March email.
As explained to Mitchell numerous(!) times, I do not have a:
– police “grievance”
– performance complaint that Has been investigated/reviewed by police (&/or ipca) & am complaining about their assessment.
I have an unaddressed police complaint Christopher Luxon brought to Mitchell’s attention, for his action, in October 2023 – to this day, I am still waiting for Mitchell’s appropriate action! 5k NZers every year have their performance complaints investigated/reviewed by Police – I am merely requesting the same treatment. After 2.5 years, Mitchell still has not thought “Why is this guy still complaining after 2+ years? Let me carefully read his correspondence to see if I &/or my Secretaries am/are missing something”.
So damn infuriating, despite numerous very simple requests for 2.75 years, Mitchell has not very simply understood & completed 1 minute task of bringing my complaint to Police Commissioner’s attention! In my 35 adult years, I have never encountered a more simplistic infuriating person than Mitchell!
Mitchell believes he has all the answers – there is no need for him to consider the input of others, regardless of their expertise level! His legislation proposals are rehashes which have previously failed in NZ or overseas. Instead of providing substantive value to the Public, Mitchell chases ‘tough guy’ media clickbait headlines. As long as it looks good, he is all for it – no need for him to ‘scratch beyond the surface’ to evaluate whether it is likely to be effective!
Because of Mitchell’s extremely limited analysis ability, (Chambers &) Coster was very easily able to ‘pull the wool over his eyes’! The massively overstaffed & woefully performing PNHQ operation is too hard for Mitchell to ‘get his head around’ & not a ‘sexy’ media headline – hence, his zero response to my proposal! As a result, Police did not ‘pull their weight’ – not even close – in 2024’s Public Service personnel rationing initiative.
– Mitchell has no interest in effectively serving the Public!
– Mitchell has no proactive interest in addressing Police performance issues!
– Mitchell has no interest in doing right thing for/serving Police personnel. He had many opportunities since October 2023 to protect them from their corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty being further exposed. He did NOTHING effective!
– Mitchell’s main interest is ‘serving’ himself!
(“Police Minister Is Asleep at the Wheel”)
For his $320,600 salary; Public/Taxpayers deserve MUCH better Police Minister than ‘lot of spin, little substance’ Mitchell. Most of Mitchell’s media interviews expose he has a very superficial understanding of his Police portfolio! ‘A beat was missed’ in 3 Cabinet reshuffles – “abysmal” Mitchell was not stripped of “too complex for him” Police portfolio. As a Police Minister failing to enforce Section 16 of Policing Act 2008 is unacceptable, I recommend the Police portfolio be immediately reassigned (to Simeon Brown).
From 1.5 minutes mark of below video, former politician, Rodney Hide talks BRILLIANCE!
– Mitchell has to stand down, ESPECIALLY given my experience of him!
– New Zealand needs a new Police Minister, who is NOT ex police. Police’s sole purpose to serve the Public, not ex police colleagues. So, NZ really needs a Police Minister who will hold Police accountable to the Public’s expectations – not the lower ‘excuse bearing’ ex police colleagues standards! A Police Minister who will honestly say “The Public quite rightly expect more – that’s not good enough by Police!”. Instead – from (Costello &) Mitchell – the Public get “These are just a few bad apples, vast majority of Police are Great” ex stubborn tribal culture valuing loyalty Over integrity BS!
– Public would be SHOCKED, via an Independent Commission of inquiry, PNHQ (Police) have Super Stubborn Tribal Culture which values loyalty Over integrity!! Look at the culture research here.
Especially this research. Despite it being 5 years old, my experience confirms it has not been addressed in the slightest!! Coster cherry picked a good result, told the Public “Police were moving in the right direction” & ‘binned’ the research!
(Mitchell’s electorate office staff, which includes his sister, share his arrogance! They blocked Ms Z’s, woman at centre of Jevon McSkimming scandal whose ignored complaints triggered a damning IPCA report, emails!
“I have received 2 further emails from this emailer whom I have asked not to email the electorate office… I will send further emails onto you now & block the sender – I think this is the best solution….”
FGS, Mitchell’s electorate office received just 17 emails from Ms Z & it only takes 5 seconds for them to forward to his ministerial office!)
Article with insight into Mitchell’s appalling integrity judgement!
The “My integrity is of paramount importance to me” guy hid from the Public for 7 months Chambers serious allegations investigation & would have continued to do so if not Media exposed, while having the delusional gall to repeatedly claim Police do not have any culture & integrity issues – look in your mirror!
After all the Police scandals under this government, Mitchell should have ‘got out front’ with this issue in November/December 2025 or February 2026. Proactively announced the allegations & investigation, and explained why Chambers is not standing down, appropriate ring fencing (totally excluded from being involved in all sexual offence investigations, policy work etc since November) put in place etc. Actually show integrity based leadership!
Seems Mitchell decided against such a Nov/Dec 2025 announcement as it would have been right after & taken away Public attention from 11 November Review of Police handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming report. (It is very obvious from his public statements Mitchell has – passionately – disliked Coster & McSkimming for years) Oh the irony of Mitchell entirely irresponsibly creating another poor complaints about a senior Police personnel handling situation immediately after this report’s release!
Staggering Mitchell (&, by default, Luxon) arrogance thinking Media would not find out about the allegations, investigations would conclude ‘nothing to see here’ & 2 accusers would be quiet – so he would never have to publicly say anything!! He played russian roulette with a 3 bullets loaded pistol, 100% believing he would spin upon empty chamber! Mitchell didn’t even use previous 7 months to be prepared in any way for the news breaking! Mitchell learned nothing from the very similar Coster-McSkimming, who he reacted so savagely to, situation! Shows Mitchell’s really low integrity.
Casey Costello
Associate Police Minister who does not provide service to the Public!
Numerous times I explained my belief 385 PNHQ ‘deadwood’ constabulary could be made redundant or reassigned to frontline without any reduction in PNHQ’s (currently woeful) ‘service’, no action/response from Costello.
Numerous times I mentioned my reasonable assumption 250 of these 385 PNHQ constabulary would agree to return to the frontline – Costello knew Police were not going to otherwise achieve the ‘frontline numbers net increase of 500 by November 2025’ initiative (which is her responsibility!), no action/response from Costello.
Due to Costello & Mitchell’s total unwillingness to even raise my PNHQ constabulary belief with the Police Commissioner, he has been ‘forced’ to spend Taxpayers’ money on an Auckland based recruits training facility to increase new recruit numbers!
Fed up with Costello’s non-response, on 26 February 2025, I submitted the following OIA request: “On 20 & 27 June, 4 & 26 July, 7 August, 10 & 20 September, 1 & 17 October, & 3 December 2024 and 31 January & 4 February 2025; I sent a letter regarding widespread corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty experienced over 4+ years with pnhq personnel to the minister. I never received an acknowledgement or response from her/her office.
Requesting copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my letter between the minister/her office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to police.”
On 26 March 2025, Costello responded she had merely “FYI” forwarded my letter to Police’s Ministerial Services 12 times from 20 June 2024 to 4 February 2025!!
So:
– in all her interactions with Coster/Chambers since 20 June 2024, not once did Costello say to them “There’s Public member wanting to bring a serious PNHQ performance issue to your attention. If you’re unaware of it, contact your MS Advisor or I can email you the Public member’s complaint”!
– from the 2nd to 12th times, Costello did not have the very basic complaint management skill to say to Police’s Ministerial Services “As this performance issue remains unaddressed, please forward the letter to Coster/Chambers or somebody else appropriate within Police for action &/or response”!
– Costello had 12 opportunities to ‘nip’ this issue ‘in the bud’. Instead, 12 times she did nothing! More & more corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty occurred after Costello first became aware of this Police performance issue in June 2024!
Had Costello taken very simple proper action in June, as she should have, a further 2 years of PNHQ corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty would not have been exposed.
On 11 May, I “IMPORTANT & URGENT: Very Simple request!” emailed Costello “Phone richard chambers & say something like ‘On 17 March, you received a courier package from an Andrew Flanagan – it included a 34 pages complaint. As he has been unsuccessfully trying since 11 October 2023 for it to be investigated/reviewed, for the love of everybody’s sanity, PLEASE email him Asap’. (Attached, in case chambers binned my complaint!)”. Despite 47 (last 34 cced to Winston Peters) follow-up emails (through to 11 November), no action/response from Costello or her Office.
After 1.5 years of my correspondence, still seemingly Costello has not thought “Why is this guy still complaining after well over a year? Let me carefully read his correspondence to see if I &/or my Secretaries am/are missing something”.
Between 23 May 2024 & 11 November 2025, Costello received 17 times my actual – not just an email – (clearly marked in both email subject line & document title “Calling for Resignation of Andrew Coster” & “Widespread PNHQ Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of Duty”) complaint! Not once, did she appropriately manage the complaint!
The person(s) responsible for ‘prioritising’ Costello’s incoming correspondence should DEFINITELY be Dismissed. 17 times they failed to bring my clearly marked correspondence to Costello’s attention! 17 times they ‘blindly’ forwarded my correspondence to Mitchell’s Police Private Secretaries who, in turn, ‘blindly’ forwarded to Police’s Ministerial Services!
Winston Peters
Really annoyed by the New Zealand First party leader’s shameful priorities – ‘devoting’ considerable effort to next day/urgently responding to a self-described “joke” OIA request – on 7 June 2025, I sent Peters emails about the various Police matters raised with him & his party member Costello that remained unaddressed.
1. Raised with Peters on 5 December 2024, determining who was responsible for his failed extra 500 frontline police initiative. Given his non-response, on 25 February 2025, OIA requested “Copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my email between his office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to within Government”. Despite 4 follow-up emails, no response from Peters or his Office.
2. Raised with Peters on 1 May 2025, providing video evidence of who was responsible for his failed extra 500 frontline police initiative. Despite 6 follow-up emails, no response from Peters or his Office.
3. Raised with Costello on 31 January 2025, request to VERY SIMPLY Directly bring this letter to Richard Chambers’ attention. No action/response from Costello or her Office.
4. Raised with Costello on 11 May 2025, above “IMPORTANT & URGENT: Very Simple request! Phone richard chambers Early this week…”. Despite 8 follow-up emails, no action/response from Costello or her Office.
5. Raised with Peters on 4 February 2024(!), request to provide assistance to address prolonged widespread pnhq corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty. Despite 4 follow-up emails, no action/response from Peters or his Office.
Had Peters taken very simple action in February, as he should have, a further 2.25 years of PNHQ corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty would not have been exposed.
6. Raised with Costello on 10 May 2025, proving police information indicating both labour & coalition governments have funded Same 183 new police recruits (circa $80M). No action/response from Costello or her Office.
7. Raised with Peters on 11 July 2024(!), request to VERY SIMPLY Directly bring this letter to Andrew Coster’s attention. No action/response from Peters or his Office.
8. Raised with Peters on 17 June 2024(!), looking into my “Over last 3+ years, I’ve interacted with 75 or so constabulary pnhq personnel. 18 (25%) of them, I could not trust to employ in my business! As there 1,547 constabulary pnhq personnel, 25% of them equates to 385 who could be dismissed or reassigned to frontline without any pnhq service reduction.
Rather than take redundancy, most/some of personnel from these disestablished positions will return to frontline. Public benefit from experienced – instead of academy graduates – personnel being redeployed to frontline. Government benefit from, say, 250 of them contributing to their “500 more front-line within 2 years” initiative – which, without these personnel, they have admitted will be an achievement challenge!”. No action/response from Peters (office).
9. OIA requested of Costello on 10 April 2025, copy of report from ministerial advisory group on transnational & serious organised crime. Despite 8 follow-up emails, no response from Costello or her Office. On 14 June, discovered via media article requested report is publicly available online! So, because of Costello (office’s) very basic ‘incompetence’, I ‘lost’ 2 months!
No response from Costello or Peters to my 9 emails.
Judith Collins
After 11 November 2025 McSkimming IPCA report media conference, emailed Attorney-General Collins 5 pages “Jevon McSkimming report & IPCA/Police Troubles” letter – covering, among other topics, “ipca is not fit for purpose, richard chambers is making police culture worse & bloated pnhq operation” letter. Also enclosed above Money mentioned “Systematic ipca Failures of Victims” & “Police Executive restructure” Chambers documents.
In covering email; stated
– “I hope have found in you a government ‘ear’ who will listen to me. Over last 4.75 years, I have had huge displeasure of dealing with police national headquarters personnel on an almost daily basis i.e. I know what I am talking about. Over that period, I have also had the displeasure of dealing (on a much less frequent basis) with ipca”
– …
– “While I quite rightly have no ‘time’ for the disrespectful Ministers and ipca & police ‘leadership’, I still have some ‘spirit’ to do ‘my small part’ so hopefully nobody again ever goes through (ipca &) Police NIGHTMARE I have over the last 4.75 years. I am most happy to work with a respectful member of your team, to further expand on my ideas/solutions. I look forward to hearing from you”
After 20 follow-up emails without response, on 28 March 2026, submitted “requesting copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my email & its attachments between Judith Collin’s office and any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to within Government” OIA request.
“I hope have found in you a government ‘ear’ who will listen to me” was in vein!
Christopher Luxon
On 5 October 2023, Prime Minister’s Office forwarded my correspondence to Mark Mitchell. I praised the Office for their leadership – in hindsight, that praise wasn’t warranted!
On 26 February 2024, received a “Your comments have been forwarded onto the Prime Minister for his consideration” email from his Office. Immediately responded “As coster’s Office has a Terrible track record of Totally Ignoring the Public (Me 150+ times since August 2021!), I request Christopher/you bring my attached letter to his Urgent attention. This is the second time Christopher/you have had to address my issue with mitchell. Note the date of the first time – 5 October. Had mitchell taken Some action then, this issue wouldN’t have Escalated over the last 4.5 months! Disrespectful missing-in-action mitchell is unfit to be police Minister – he has No interest in Really holding coster accountable! Judith Collins would be a Much better police Minister”.
After 4 follow-up emails, on 26 March, received “Unfortunately, Prime Minister is unable to intervene in individual cases. The best way to bring a complaint against Police is by going through the IPCA” email from PM’s Office.
This was an appallingly irresponsible stance from Luxon! He could not be bothered holding Mitchell accountable for his lack of effective action & response to me over the last 5.5 months! So much for Luxon’s “driving his Ministers to perform” Public claim! He could not be bothered getting one of his staff to take just a minute to email my complaint to the Police Commissioner with a “cc me & mark mitchell into Police’s/your response to Mr Flanagan”.
“unable to intervene in individual cases” is a sly play-on-words by Luxon! This applies to criminal cases of Public members – Ministers cannot influence/intervene. However, my complaint was of a Government agency’s performance. Of damn course, Ministers can intervene in those cases – Ministers are responsible for their performance! Effectively, Luxon was trying to have me believe Ministers’ responses to all Public complaints about their portfolios’ performance was “Not my problem!”
Effectively, Luxon tried to ‘inform’ me section 16 of Policing Act 2008 – in above “Mark Mitchell” section – is incorrect! ‘Ok’.
On 26 March, immediately responded “Purpose of my attached 11 October 2023 letter is to pursue accountability for extensive corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty I have experienced with PNHQ personnel over last 3+ years! Not to complain about my lodged crime case”, with a 2 pages “I look forward to your timely assistance” letter addressed to Luxon.
Had Luxon taken very simple action in March, as he should have, a further 2.25 years of PNHQ corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty would not have been exposed.
On 24 April, emailed a 2 pages “Coverup of Police’s Corruption and (Serious) Misconduct & Neglect of Duty” letter addressed to Luxon. Despite 13 follow-up emails, no action/response from Luxon or his Office.
Luxon quotes from August 2024 National Party conference:
“This time last year (under the Labour government) the country was in a mess. Reckless spending… and a government that frankly put criminals first & victims last” (says he who had not even taken 1 minute since 26 February – 5+ months – to end my ‘victimization’ by Police! Even worse, his Police Minister had totally ignored since 5 October 2023 – 10 months – looking into PNHQ’s reckless $50M pa salaries spend on ‘deadwood’ constabulary!!)
“It’s a government focused on action & delivery” (“… except addressing the massively overstaffed & woeful performing PNHQ operation, for the benefit of New Zealanders”!!)
On 24 September, emailed a 2 pages “Alarm Bells – New Police Commissioner Recruitment Process” letter addressed to Luxon – recommending an external, rather than internal, appointment; independent recruitment experts, rather than Public Services Commission, to perform the majority of the recruitment process; specific characteristics to look for in the new Commissioner and to take the required time to get the right appointment, rather than Mitchell’s arbitrary November timeframe. Despite 2 follow-up emails – 1 posted below, no response.
On 19 November, emailed Luxon’s Office an OIA request – “As per attached: on 26 March, 24 & 27 April, 31 May, and 11, 19, 24 & 25 September; I sent letters regarding various police matters to Christopher Luxon’s Office. I never received an acknowledgement or response to any of those letters.
Requesting copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my letters between Christopher Luxon’s Office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to within Government.”
Despite 2 follow-up emails, no response from Luxon’s Office.
Prior to submitting this OIA request, had emailed Luxon’s Office 67 times about various Police & Police Minister matters – above 26 March generic email was the only response! I wrote to Luxon (Office) in the primary interest of improving Police – especially PNHQ’s – & his Police Minister’s performance. In return, I got disrespectful ignorance from Luxon & his Office!
On 18 February 2025, resubmitted the same above OIA request. Luxon’s Office responded on 3 March – they had taken absolutely no action with my letters!!
These letters were about:
– how woefully performing, as confirmed by IPCA’s research, PNHQ is massively overstaffed (with restructuring recommendations)
– how to easily achieve coalition government’s 500 additional net frontline police by November 2025 initiative
– how to maximise effectiveness of new Police Commissioner recruitment process
– IPCA & Paul Goldsmith’s refusal, by repeatedly ignoring me, to do their core jobs
– Mark Mitchell’s refusal, by repeatedly ignoring me, to do his core job
– widespread PNHQ corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect of duty I had experienced over the last 4 years
As each of these 8 formal letters were of 2-5 pages length, it took me at least 5 hours total to compile & write them – to try to improve IPCA, Ministers & Police performance. In return, zero action or engagement! No passing onto Goldsmith, Mitchell or any of Luxon’s (15+) Office staff for actioning/response! No action.
Very obviously; there is zero empathy, integrity, leadership, responsibility, service ethnos etc amongst Luxon’s Office staff. His office is literally a ‘black hole’ – Public members go to the effort to write him letters as to how Government agencies & Ministers can improve their performance, yet still he & his Office staff disrespectfully ignore them!
On 25 February, emailed Luxon’s Office an OIA request – “- On 26 February 2024, I received a “Your comments have been forwarded onto Prime Minister for his consideration” email from Christopher Luxon’s office
– I then sent emails requesting Christopher Luxon (Office) bring an attached complaint to the Direct attention of Police Commissioner Andrew Coster & subsequently Richard Chambers, on the following dates (stated dates from 4 March 2024 to 30 January 2025)
I never received any acknowledgements or responses to my 47 emails (last 7 cced to Chief Press Secretary, Finn Stichbury & Deputy Chief Press Secretary, Jasmine Higginson). Requesting copies of all external & internal communications, messages & reports related to my email requests between Luxon’s Office & any other party it has been commented on or discussed with not limited to within Govt.”
Despite 18 follow-up emails, no response from Luxon’s Office.
Despite being just a 5 minutes task, there is no evidence Luxon or his Office took any action! There is no evidence Luxon even discussed this significant issue with disrespectful missing-in-action Mitchell – who is paid to address such issues so the Prime Minister does not need to become involved!
26 February 2025 was the 1 year anniversary of Luxon’s apathy! Luxon constantly stresses to the Public he is “driving his Ministers to perform, ensuring timely objectives/outcomes/results achievement, running the government like a business etc”, while apathetically behaving as above himself!
On 7 April; “IMPORTANT & URGENT: REALLY appreciate you bringing my attached letter to the Direct attention of Police Commissioner Richard Chambers” emailed Jake O’Flaherty – Communications & Digital Advisor, Kerri Osborne – Strategic Communications Manager, Lesley Hamilton – Press Secretary, Matt Young – Press Secretary & Michael Forbes – Deputy Chief Press Secretary (‘resigned’ in disgrace on 4 June 2025). Despite 24 follow-up emails (through to 3 November), no response.
On 15 April, “IMPORTANT & URGENT: For 48th time, I Very Simply request you to bring the attached complaint to the Direct attention of the Police Commissioner” emailed Luxon & Stichbury. Despite 15 follow-up emails (through to 4 August), no response.
On 19 June, Assistant Ombudsman informed me “Ministers offices’ have explained you have been on Parliamentary Security block list for some time due to the high volume of sent emails”. I wish such an explanation had happened – at least it would have been a response for me to work with them to finally resolve this issue!
On 18 July, via my OIA request, Casey Costello confirmed Parliamentary Security block list claim was a LIE! On 21 July, received typically immature/insulting “frivolous/trivial” OIA response from Peters. On 28 July, received insulting “frivolous/vexatious” OIA response from Mitchell. On 11 September, Parliamentary Security indicated were unaware of me being on block list. On 23 September, via my OIA request, Paul Goldsmith confirmed Parliamentary Security block list claim was a LIE!
On 2 December, after having to engage the Privacy Commissioner’s office, Luxon’s Chief of Staff Cameron Burrows finally confirmed my correspondence was being diverted without any prior explanation/warning to me! Burrows did not provide details as to what date the diversion started & where my correspondence was being directed to.
However, Burrows LIED! As I still receive after hours auto responses from Luxon’s office, my correspendence is not being diverted as he claimed! (As NZ citizen me lives in South Asia, shown time is 7 times Behind NZ) Burrows LIED to try to provide an ‘excuse’ for the total lack of very simple service from Luxon’s office to me since 26 February 2024!
“luxon, the only reason I had to email ministers so much is they continuously ignored my Very Simple assistance requests! You, for example – as above, Totally ignored my 48(!!) Very Simple requests to bring this letter to the Direct attention of Police Commissioner! ‘Newsflash’, if you had taken action within the first requests, I would not have sent you 40+ follow-up emails!
Had mitchell addressed this issue in October 2023, as he should have, NONE of my above correspondence would have occurred &, Most Importantly, the Widespread pnhq Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of duty would have been addressed by the end of 2023!
Not me, you & your ministers are the problem! ‘Please’ explain your ‘logic’ of (supposedly) putting me on a block list because of your & your ministers’ unwillingness to Very Simply assist/serve – I’ll wait…”
On 28 August, “48(!) times between March 2024 & April 2025, I VERY SIMPLY requested you bring attached performance complaint to Direct attention of Police Commissioner. 48 DAMN times you Totally Ignored my request to take Just 1 minute to bring widespread pnhq corruption and (serious) misconduct & neglect to Andrew Coster/Richard Chambers’ Direct attention! Since 7 April; 17(!) times I made Same VERY SIMPLE request of finn, jake, kerri, lesley & matt. 17 DAMN times they Totally Ignored taking Just 1 minute to do so! So, for 66th time(!!!), I VERY SIMPLY request you bring my performance complaint to Direct attention of Police Commissioner. I look forward to your confirmation THIS week” emailed Luxon (ccing Hamilton, O’Flaherty, Osbourne, Stichbury & Young). Despite 5 follow-up emails (through to 27 October), no response.
Between 11 October 2023 & 11 November 2025, Luxon received 84 times my actual – not just an email – (clearly marked in both email subject line & document title “Calling for Resignation of Andrew Coster” & “Widespread PNHQ Corruption and Serious Misconduct & Neglect of Duty”) complaint! Not once, did he appropriately manage the complaint! Not once, did he seemingly properly instruct Mitchell to take action &/or respond to me!
Luxon campaigned on & reminds the Public every week he is “ruthlessly focused on outcomes”. But, despite repeated ‘invitations’ from me – since 26 March 2024, Luxon did not spend a single minute focused on – addressing the massively overstaffed & woeful performing PNHQ – addressing my experienced PNHQ ‘misbehaviour’ – ‘500’ initiative achievement – neglect of duty of Goldsmith, IPCA & Mitchell – his & his Office’s performance!
Luxon claims to be an extrovert who loves to engage with people & works long hours (needs minimal sleep). Having intensely watched him since October 2023, my belief is nothing could be further from the truth!
Luxon has listened to Spotify for 37,684 minutes over the last year! That is 628 hours or an average of 12 hours per week!
As he boasts, Luxon is an active Spotify listener – he deliberately selects the songs he wants to hear – he does not put it on passive random song selection!
Despite being Prime Minister, he actively listens to Spotify for an average of 12 hours every damn week!!
Luxon claims to have long studied leaders & leadership – an avid reader of self-help books written by corporate executives & leadership gurus. He seemingly does not apply anything he learns – Many MPs have long declared self-awareness is not in Luxon’s DNA.
He dodges all ‘tough’ journalists who would challenge him to become a better leader/politician – supposedly a believer in constant personal improvement, instead, Luxon stays in his comfort zone with ‘softball questions’ reporters! “Any politician who refuses to front a particular media outlet as s/he or she is afraid of being made to look foolish is a coward & not competent to be in a position of responsibility” – Peter Williams, broadcaster & writer for 50 years.
His public persona is closely managed – there is very little genuineness about Luxon – most NZers would be lost for words if asked to describe the real him. Luxon needs to read these sorts of books, until he at least starts to show some empathy!
The ‘Serve the Public’ ethos & Ministers accountability management of Luxon is woeful! Only if there is any time left after listening to Spotify for 12 hours that week, avidly reading self-help books & with correspondence which has not been diverted without the senders’ awareness! Surely, Luxon is the laziest &/or most shockingly ‘prioritised’ NZ Prime Minister Ever!! Even a new manager with elementary people management skills would have resolved this issue in March 2024 at the latest!
In September, New Zealand Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey – made up of responses from 150 chief executives & business leaders (Luxon’s strongest supporters) – ranked his performance 15th in his own Cabinet (of 20 Ministers, including 6 from other political parties)! An especially bad ranking considering, unlike previous Prime Ministers (PM), Luxon does not have any portfolios. Despite no ‘distractions’/PM being his sole role, Luxon’s strongest supporters ranked his performance last among National party Cabinet members – Luxon is Cabinet’s weakest National party ‘link’! (Even woeful Mark Mitchell’s performance was ranked nearly 25% better than Luxon!)
On 6 October, Luxon said “Personal responsibility is one of the National party’s core values”. Where is the personal responsibility for the following people not, despite NUMEROUS requests, VERY simply bringing my performance complaint to the direct attention of the Police Commissioner?:
– since 7 April 2025, Luxon’s office staff!
– since 26 February 2024, Luxon!
– since 5 October 2023, Mitchell!
Where is the personal responsibility for, despite NUMEROUS requests since 17 January 2024, Goldsmith not addressing IPCA totally ignoring & subsequently LYING to the Chief Ombudsman about my Police performance complaint?
Where is the personal responsibility for, despite NUMEROUS requests, Richard Chamber’s neglect of duty since 20 November 2024? He even totally ignored, since receiving on 17 March, a physical copy of my Police performance complaint!
Where is the corresponding action to Luxon’s good sounding words?
26 February 2026 was the 2 years anniversary of Luxon’s apathy!
Since 26 February 2024, I have MERELY requested Luxon to bring my significant police performance complaint – which started at ‘only’ 14 pages & is now 64 pages! – to Mark Mitchell’s attention. Luxon has Not done that 5 minutes task in 2.25 years! During that period, Luxon has BSed about being “incredibly serious about law & order”!
The ‘Serve the Public’ ethos & Ministers accountability management of Luxon is woeful!
Despite 6 follow-up emails (cced Burrows, Hamilton, O’Flaherty & Young), no response.
On 27 May, “Please explain why one of luxon & his office’s Chief policies is to totally Ignore since February 2024(!!) Public member Repeatedly requesting VERY Simple assistance about Widespread police headquarters corruption and serious misconduct & neglect of duty from the Supposedly ‘incredibly serious about law & order’ national party & PM” emailed Janine Smith – Deputy Chief Executive, Policy & Delivery Unit, Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (cced Burrows, Hamilton, O’Flaherty & Young). Despite 2 follow-up emails (through to 9 June), no response.
On 12 June, upon seeing call for formal audit of Prime Minister’s record keeping & OIA practice, sent Grant Taylor, Auditor-General 2+ pages letter summarising my above Luxon & his office experience & asking “How does Public hold luxon & his office staff Accountable for their APPALLING ‘service’?”. On 1 July – after a follow-up email – Brent Burton, Senior Performance Auditor replied with link to formal audit call response. Immediately replied with “How does the Public Actually get action/response from (goldsmith,) luxon & their office staff?” email.
On 13 July, after follow-up email, Burton replied with generic “Government Accountability to House” link. Immediately replied with “My Individual issues are Inappropriate for most of those avenues … DPMC Should be able to assist with my goldsmith & luxon Prolonged non-response issues though, from experience, they are Non-responders Too! Appreciate your assistance to be directed to somebody Appropriate who will at Least respond” email (ccing Hayward, King & Smith). On 28 July, after 2 follow-up emails, Burton referred me to Citizens Advice (wth!) – “I trust this is helpful”, not in the slightest!
On 1 July, emailed “How does the Public hold (goldsmith,) luxon & their office staff Accountable for their APPALLING ‘service’ – Actually get action/response from them?” Anahera Morehu, Chief Archivist, Department of Internal Affairs. Despite 2 follow-up emails (ccing Burrows, Hayward, King & Smith), no response.
For his $510,300 salary; Public/Taxpayers deserve a much better Prime Minister – Chris Bishop or Erica Stanford.
In “What would it take for Christopher Luxon to quit as prime minister?”:
– If anyone is going to convince Christopher Luxon it’s time to step aside from the prime ministership, it’s his forerunner & friend Sir John Key
– One of Luxon’s weaknesses in the top job has been his inability to take feedback from colleagues, staff or officials. That has even extended to Key on occasions, where it’s understood Luxon has been keen to do most of the talking while Key has been left to do the listening
– Another Achilles’ heel is Luxon’s complete lack of self-doubt
– Luxon deciding he’s had enough (the least likely of scenarios)
From 9.75 minutes mark of the below video, 3 of ‘incompetent meandering’ Luxon’s main problems are summed up.
Luxon cannot communicate in a way which connects with the Public – they tune out when the ‘robot regurgitating management 101 books’ speaks
Luxon has no empathy for about 95% of the Public
Luxon does not ‘know his mind’/holds hardly any strong beliefs, principles & values – he tries to ‘vanilla fence sit’ appease everybody – he is exposed when he has to ad lib/too reliant on being ‘told’ what to say
In “Luxon appears to be the one with the only deciding vote on his future. For now“:
– Luxon is very confident in his abilities, often-times to his detriment
– He is known to shirk advice from staff & even political veterans seeking to help him out
– Luxon has spent his prime ministership maintaining he’s running the Government differently, giving a long leash to ministers to manage their own portfolios. While, in corporate New Zealand, someone who delegates effectively & avoids micro-management might be seen as an asset, politics is not business.
– This style of leadership allows him to sidestep responsibility for any curly questions, referring journalists to relevant ministers. Also, it means he’s given himself licence not to be across his brief. Let’s be clear, the brief of a prime minister is everything.
– Luxon’s self-awareness of his struggles can appear lacking. It often takes someone explaining to him why he is having the problem.
Matthew Hooton is one of New Zealand’s most experienced & best-connected strategic consultants, public-policy advisors.
– Luxon only survived as Prime Minister last year because, “in a conflict of ambition”, his rivals couldn’t agree who to support for the top job: “he retained the job title only because his front bench couldn’t agree on which of them should succeed him”, and so their “consequent inability to resolve matters among themselves is all that saved Luxon”.
– “The view he is floundering is shared by some of his most senior ministers”
– “Luxon is a uniquely incompetent person, as Prime Minister. He is by far the worst prime minister in my lifetime from any party… The senior ministers all know they have no respect for him at all. His own staff have no respect for him. His own polling & PR operation understands National is doomed with him as leader… No one in the business community has any regard.”
From 3.5 – 9.25 minutes of the below video, group of highish profile far right wingers who hate Luxon.
“Luxon is so weak & vacillating on issues” – Ashley Church
“His dithering is death”
“Scary thing is I don’t think he’d have an answer if I was to ask him ‘What is one thing you want to do for NZ?'”
“Like to see him stand for something – anything – & have some bravery & courage to push for it”
“Being all over the show is breathtakingly rotting his support” – Rodney Hide
“Get a new PR team – way current one portrays luxon as avatar of national party leadership is horrific – they show him to be staid – there is nothing interesting to him – they keep showing him as having no backbone & not really standing for anything” – Elliot Ikelei
“He is a weak leader, definitely not strong” – Dr Ate Moala
While telling voters they had to financially knuckle down in tough economic times, one of the most “sorted & wealthy” NZ PMs ever was definitely the most financially greedy NZ PM ever!:
– profited $700k+ selling properties
– spent $200k on new carpets & curtains in $37M “I’m hardly ever there” Premier House, as he was not prepared to ‘slum it’ for just 3 years
– spent $50k replacing office video conferencing equipment that was “fine” for previous PMs
– receives $45k pa allowance for his mortgage-free owned electorate office
– spent $44k on Australian PM Queenstown pointless photo opportunity
– reluctantly gave up allowance for mortgage-free apartment across road from Parliament purchased while waiting for Premier House renovations
– reduced rates $8k pa on his nearly $10M mortgage-free holiday home
As a lifetime National supporter, I am disgusted by the significant difference between Luxon’s “law & order” campaign promises & his Government’s deliverables.
Click here for “Chief Ombudsman” section
Several weeks ago, I was subjected to a prolonged, vicious assault by a deranged. drunk. I was knocked to the ground, punched , kicked. my hair pulled out, and strangled . The attack was out of the blue and totally unprovoked.
The police have been absolutely bloody useless. They failed to carry out the very basics of dealing with a victim of crime. No incident number , no contact card, no photographs of my visible injuries. I was told that I would be contacted by one of the constables .
I wasn’t contacted, despite over a dozen phone calls to them, from me and my daughter, over the following days. I found out where the offender was staying and left three messages , over a period of four days, before the offender was finally arrested. Later released on Bail.
During the weeks since the attack I have remained uninformed regarding the charges laid, the date of sentencing , anything relating to the case , or my well being. Contacting the police, or the court, is like an Alice In Wonderland traipsing through numerous computer sites, all urging that one should fill out a form. No human contact.
I have contacted Victim Support . Actual humans answer the phone. However, they are unable to unravel the computerised waffle. The person at Victim Support stated that they regularly hear of victims being treated in the way that I have been.
Apparently, the attacker was due to be sentenced yesterday. I remain totally uninformed, despite numerous phone calls.
NB I am in my eightieth year, and partially disabled. For twenty years I was in law enforcement. Amongst my many roles was the preparation of emotional harm, victim impact, reparation and pre sentence reports. I regularly liaised with the victims of crime.
My goodness , how things have deteriorated. Symptomatic of the steady decline of our once fine country.
Today, at the insistence of Victim Support, I phoned 111 , to report a breach of bail by my attacker. The person I spoke with was rude and incompetent. She actually hung up on me, I was neither rude , or abusive. I intend to make a formal complaint.
And police have the Gall to claim empathy, integrity, professionalism & respect are their Main values!
Appreciate you sharing & signing this petition – https://petitions.parliament.nz/f0d3fd4b-b46f-495e-b0f2-08de607ec117?lang=en