Manatū Hauora the Health Ministry has released the CV of the man it appointed as its director of the Suicide Prevention Office, but only after the Office of the Ombudsman intervened.
It highlights a pattern where a number of government departments failed to do the most basic recruitment checks for Matthew Tukaki.
Tukaki was appointed as the director in late June, but days later a 1News investigation revealed there were inconsistencies with portions of his CV.
He said that he had led Drake International through the global financial crisis and that Ban Ki Moon, a former UN Secretary General, had directly appointed him to a UN position.
But Drake sources pushed back and told 1News he never led them through the crisis and had overstated his employment, whilst the Australian UN Compact it was an elected position, which he was eventually asked to step down from.
1News found that at nearly every domestic government position Tukaki has held, no checks were done on his Australian work history. This began at the Māori Council where he was the executive director, but claimed to be the head of the council.
The pattern repeated itself at the Tertiary Education Commission and at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse.
Finally, the Minister for Children Kelvin Davis said he had no requirement to check Tukaki's work history when he appointed him to chair a body charged with turning around his under-fire ministry Oranga Tamariki.
Davis said at the time that Tukaki was well-known and had previously been appointed to Government positions.
“So we just trusted in what they had done, and I'd heard about the stuff he'd done apparently overseas. He was also the head of the Māori Council,” Davis said.
It then emerged Tukaki had overcharged Oranga Tamariki by nearly $60,000, which he has since paid back.
Refusal to release CV
The health ministry refused to release Tukaki's CV to 1News despite all of this. Instead it said it had followed a standard process.
1News complained to the Ombudsman about that refusal and an investigation was opened.
Yesterday, Dr Arran Culver, the Associate Director-General Mental Health and Addiction said, "following consultation with Mr Tukaki, Manatū Hauora is now in a position to provide you with the document requested".
Tukaki's CV repeated the line about previously being the Head of Drake Australia, Regional Head.
It also listed a number of other jobs 1News has been unable to verify.
In a statement the ministry said it was "satisfied that a standard recruitment process showed Matthew Tukaki was the best candidate for the advertised position of Director of the Suicide Prevention Office. Due diligence was followed to confirm Mr Tukaki’s experience in suicide prevention work and his suitability for the role".
Months after our investigation, the ministry admitted it did not check Tukaki's Drake employment or other Australian jobs.
"As part of this recruitment process, the Ministry checked Mr Tukaki’s recent and relevant employment history. This did not include checking Mr Tukaki’s employment with Drake Australia, Snowy Hydro, Joint House Department, and Australian Communications. None of these roles were relevant to the position he was applying for at the Ministry and all related to work history from more than a decade ago."
Tukaki approaches reporter
In November while I was in Wellington Tukaki approached me and told me his role as director of the Suicide Prevention Office was his dream job and that everyone embellishes their CV.
This was prefaced by telling me I was his favourite TVNZ reporter.
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