The Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon donated thousands of dollars to the Labour MP Kiri Allan in the run up to the 2020 General Election, 1News has revealed.
Foon, who previously spent six terms as mayor of Gisborne, was appointed by the Labour Government to the role of Race Relations Commissioner in July 2019 by the former Justice Minister Andrew Little.
The following year Allan won the East Coast seat for Labour and donations declared by the MP show Meng Foon and his wife Ying Foon gave $1500.
A company called Triple Eight Investments Limited also provided Kiri Allan a rent subsidy worth $9185 according to the declaration.
Triple Eight Investments has three directors, including Meng and Ying Foon.
Apart from Labour's East Coast branch the Foons' were the biggest financial contributors to Kiri Allan's campaign.
A key role for the Human Rights Commission is to be independent of the Government and to hold it to account on its human rights record - including on race relations.
The Race Relations Commissioner donated thousands of dollars to the Labour MP in the run up to the 2020 General Election. (Source: 1News)
"I didn’t take any moneteary donations from Meng Foon," Allan said when asked today. However, the election return for 2020 shows a donation of $1500 from "M and Y Foon".
Allan said she rented office space at a property Foon's wife owned.
"I felt pretty comfortable, it was well disclosed. It was his wife’s shop, it was an empty shop on the main drag. We paid some nominal sum, a sum, per week, and that’s all been declared."
She felt it was an appropriate relationship and it was declared. She said she had nothing to do with Foon's appointment. She said she'd have to check if she'd declared any conflict of interest with Foon with Cabinet.
"I assume everything that's in my donation declarations has been declared and then anything that's required to declare for Cabinet, we have intensive discussions about that... but I'll go and check that."
Foon would not be interviewed by 1News, but told other media he was comfortable with the donation.
He, and his family, had given donations to "left and right parties" over the years.
He said he could remain independent.
In June 2022 Allan was appointed Justice Minister.
It is the Justice Minister's role to appoint Human Rights Commissioners - including the Race Relations Commissioner.
As part of the process the Justice Minister must take into account the apolitical nature of the role and is encouraged to consult with other political parties in Parliament to try to build consensus on the appointment.
Before hearing the details around Allan and Foon, Hipkins said he wasn't aware of the donation.
It ultimately needs to be declared, and it will have been declared if you're aware of that," he said.
"Whether or not someone who holds those public advocacy roles should be donating politically and aligning themselves politically with a political party, that is probably something I'd be a little bit uncomfortable about. I wasn't aware of it until you asked me about it right now so I'd want to think about it a bit more. But I do think people holding those roles do need to be seen to be politically impartial."
No cause for concern - Hipkins
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who was standing next to Allan, said nothing he had heard from his minister gave him cause for concern.
He said there were well-established processes to manage potential conflicts of interest, including with regards to donations.
Asked whether he was comfortable with Labour MPs taking donations from Government officials who are supposed to be politically neutral, he said "it depends on the specifics of a case".
"I don't want to provide a specific answer on that until I’ve had an opportunity to look at the details of it."
National's justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said the Government "simply doesn't understand the concept of public sector neutrality".
"The Race Relations Commissioner has a watchdog role, and needs to be clearly independent and is required to be apolitical," he said.
"When Ms Allan became Minister of Justice, she should have moved quickly to deal with the perceived conflict effectively by declaring it to the Cabinet Office.
"She failed to do so and it is a major error of judgment on her part. For this minister it is a second strike offence."
ACT's David Seymour said Foon isn't fit for the role as he is "unable to remain neutral".
"Today’s revelations bring new weight to our claims and he needs to go immediately."
He said Allan "needs to sack him now".
The Human Rights Commission said it was aware of the "media reports".
"The appointment of a person to the role of a Human Rights Commissioner after having held previous public roles always requires careful management," it said in a statement.
"While the Commission does not make such appointments, it takes the issue of neutrality extremely seriously. The media reports will be carefully assessed and no further public comment is planned at this stage."
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