Preparing for the future
Property
• Property project will commence soon and will start with support from an external agency to
help deliver some quick wins for National Office. The scope of the property project will be
defined over the next few weeks. The wider property work includes:
o Six closed ROE offices in the process of being readied to hand back to the landlords by
30 September –
▪ Tauranga and New Plymouth - final clean arranged with Spotless before handing
keys to landlord
▪ Palmerston North and Masterton both have equipment and supplies still in
them. Arrangements being worked on with ECE to clear
▪ Greymouth - remaining furniture being removed early September so final clean
can be completed
▪ Invercargill – quotes to complete the make good requested from the landlord
o 2 ROE offices have their leases expiring on 31 Jan (Christchurch has a 6-month ROR
available) and 28 Feb (Whangarei - no ROR available). Decisions to be made by ECE on
when to either commence looking for new premises or to ask landlords to extend the
leases.
o 4 ROE offices remain on month-by-month leases (Hamilton, Gisborne, Napier and
Dunedin). Decisions to be made by ECE on whether these sites are still fit for purpose
and if not when to commence looking for new premises. If they remain suitable then
discussions to be held with the landlords to extend for a 3-year term.
FMIS
• FMIS is still on track for 1 October 2022 go live but with a reduced scope
• Penetration testing and certification and accreditation processes on FMIS continuing. IT
continues to support the business and Walker Scott with the implementation.
Information Technology
• Presented the data sovereignty report to the Data Stewardship Group in August.
• Completed an information management maturity assessment with the help of teams across
the Commission. This is a preparatory step before the Archives New Zealand audit in October.
Building relationships and understanding
• To improve procurement planning and processing across the Commission to enable early
engagement, Procurement and Finance representation will join business unit budget
discussions.
• DCEs of both Enterprise Services and Operations are meeting regularly to ensure we are across
the work of both groups and look for opportunities to build relationships across the groups.
Other progress
Procurement
• 3 Film Production Services contract extensions (National Park Studios, Teacup Productions and
Unreal Films) signed by all parties.
• New MSA, six Service Agreements and one ongoing Statement of Work with NZ Post signed by
both parties.
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• Procurement Plan for the purchase of PPE for the 2023 GE under action with VS.
• Allied Security contract for security guards for electoral events contract extension under action
with VS.
• The Contact Centre Services contract expires in October with no renewals available under it.
Work is under way with ECE to request an exemption from going out to market until after the
2023 election.
• Suite of updated procurement templates under development.
• Support provided in drafting exemption memos for key or critical services for which tender
planning has been deferred.
• Continuing support to business in drafting fit-for-purpose procurement and contract
documents.
Finance
• Monthly meetings with SMT members to discuss their July financial results completed.
Information Technology
• Continuing to support the implementation of the new Applicant Recruitment Tracking System.
Certification & Accreditation assurance activities are underway with penetration testing to be
arranged.
• Local Body Election Project - IT continues to support the LBE project. Upcoming work this
month includes support for Special Votes Secure Portal.
• The Catalyst workplan is being reviewed with particular focus going into EMS/ ERSA and Mike
prioritisation and identification of GE critical work.
Issues under management
•
Recruiting high quality staff remains difficult in current job market. The following roles have
been advertised more than once:
o Cyber Security role
o Senior Systems Administrator
o Advisor Learning and Development
o Advisor People and Culture
o Coordinator People and Culture
•
IT candidates are asking for 20% to 25% above the banded rates used by the Commission - in
one case there was a $28k difference for the cyber security analyst
•
The roles that have been identified and budgeted under the Capability Uplift project need
resourcing to develop the position descriptions and support hiring managers in the
recruitment process.
•
The Senior Advisor Procurement has resigned but we have 2 contractors starting in
September/October to ensure we have procurement support across the Commission while
we recruit for permanent procurement roles.
Risks
Work exceeds internal capability and capacity to deliver IF there are not enough internal resources available from a capacity and capability perspective
THEN the technology assets required for GE2023 will not be delivered to sufficient quality in a
timely and cost-effective manner that meets the needs of the general election.
The internal
resources include:
Page 3 of 4
• Systems analysis
• Senior technical engineers including devices, Azure
• Cyber security
• Information management
• Process improvement
• Enterprise architecture
• Senior systems administrators
• Administration support.
Large amount of change occurring IF the large amount of organisational and process change occurring at the Commission is not well
managed and supported
THEN Enterprise Services’ ability to deliver key services to the
Commission may be impacted.
People management
TOIL or
•
Two people in Finance, Property and Procurement have leave in excess of
excess
25 days. A leave plan has been discussed and agreed with them.
annual
•
Two IT staff in the unit have annual leave balances of 25 days or more.
leave
Plans are in place to reduce. This is the same as last month.
•
TOIL balance for the whole IT team is 101 hours. This is a reduction of 30
hours since last month. Staff are aware that this should (where possible) be
taken before reward or annual leave.
•
Only one employee in the P&C team has more than 22 days of annual leave
entitlement. 10 Days of TOIL spread over two employees were granted for
the Tauranga By-Election – 5 days remain to be taken.
Staff
•
The IT Team ideas channel continues to provide new areas of innovation.
engagement
Staff are also taking on training and development opportunities.
•
We continue to work the AskYourTeam actions.
Other news
There is significant recruitment activity in the Enterprise Services team as follows:
• People and Culture is currently recruiting for 4 roles:
o Principal Advisor, Capability and Organisational Development
o Advisor Learning and Development
o Advisor People and Culture
o Coordinator, People and Culture.
• Information Technology are currently recruiting for 3 roles:
o Cyber Security Analyst
o Systems Administrator
o Senior Systems Administrator
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Official Information Act requests responded to in August
Requestor
Topic
Response Time
Individual
Number of electoral roll records, including duplicates
14WD
and deceased electors
Individual
Request for a copy of any Privacy Impact Assessment
16WD
for collection and use of personal information
Individual
Use of cameras with automatic number plate
11WD
recognition
Academic
Number of electoral breaches referred to New Zealand
18WD
Police in last 5 years and whether the EC will take any
further action in the New Zealand First Foundation case
Parliamentary questions
Requestor
Question
Date of Response
Simeon Brown
For each of the Core Crown Agencies/Departments the
8 August 2022
Minister is responsible for, if any, how many vehicles have
been purchased, if any, by each Crown Agency or
Department since 2 December 2020 to present day, and
what is the detailed breakdown of the types of those
vehicles, with the data broken down by how many are
battery electric vehicles, how many are plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles, and how many of them do not come under
either of the two previous categories?
Party administration and compliance
• Preparations made for upcoming list vacancy for Rt Hon Trevor Mallard MP
• Progressing DemocracyNZ’s application to register as a political party, including advertising for
submissions as part of public consultation process
• Change of party secretary for The Opportunities Party (TOP)
Issues under management
• Implications of decision in SFO case and legislative change. SFO have sought leave to appeal re:
NZ First Foundation case. The Minister has approved the introduction of an SOP to the
Electoral Amendment Bill to clarify the meaning of party donation and to introduce a new
offence for failure to transmit a donation.
Risks
• No new or significantly changed risks
People management
TOIL or excess
•
3 people in the team have leave balances of more than 25 days.
annual leave
Leave plans are under discussion.
Staff engagement
•
There are no outstanding or overdue tasks remaining.
Resourcing
•
Recruitment underway for fixed-term role budgeted for
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• Procurement of a design consultant for National Office property redesign has been completed.
We have briefed Lucy Hickman, DCE, Enterprise services as the sponsor of the work. The TOM
programme will assist with convening the initial working group to progress the redesign of the
National office of which Lucy will lead.
• Target Operating Model members are participating in the review and reset of the engagement
survey questions to ensure it supports/aligns with any proposed culture initiatives.
• As of 22 August, the changes from the review of the regional presence came into effect: six
offices in Tauranga, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Masterton, Greymouth and Invercargill
are no longer open to the public and the work that took place in those offices has been shifted.
Enrolment Processing teams now work out of processing centres in Wellington, Christchurch
and Auckland, and Community Engagement in the hubs in Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton,
Rotorua, Gisborne, Wellington and Christchurch. Embedding the transition of this work is
currently underway.
Preparing for the future
• Karl has asked Carol to scope and advise on the development of a roadmap to develop and/or
replace the Commission key systems for administering enrolment and electoral events.
Other progress
• A minor review of the Commission’s business plan is underway. A key input to this is
information gathered at the recent planning prioritisation workshop facilitated by the
Programme Director.
• A paper on fraud prevention and fraud controls was developed for 14 September Board
meeting.
• Continued to work with Ministry of Justice to finalise a paper to joint Ministers to establish a
multi-year appropriation.
• The Tauranga by election report has been started and will be completed by the end of this
month.
Issues under management
•
Nil
Risks
•
Nil
Other news
•
Two Senior PMs started in the Programme. One to support Enterprise Services, and the
other to support the Recruitment Process Redesign project, legislative changes and provide
lite PM support to Legal & Policy.
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media performance report will be prepared when the current media schedule concludes at the
end of September.
Preparing for the future
The Voting Services Team has been involved as part of initial work led by Legal and Policy to
identify which previous recommendations for legislative change ought to be considered as part of
advice from the Commission to the Independent Review Panel.
Building relationships and understanding
Trust and confidence
• Communications and Education participated in a workshop with Mark Lawson and Kate
Hannah, Director of the Disinformation Project, Te Pūnaha Matatini, to further understand
what drives and influences misinformation and explore effective communications
interventions.
• Work is underway to develop website and social media content that will provide more
transparency about key processes, such as how votes are counted, to help public
understanding of important steps in the electoral process.
Social media
• Social media advertising was undertaken on Facebook and Instagram to promote consultation
on the Election Access Fund, and the recruitment of Electorate Managers.
• This advertising was successful in terms of attracting responses and applications – but it also
attracted many negative comments, requiring significant community management.
• Comments on the Election Access Fund included:
o Positive/supportive comments, in favour of the concept of the fund
o Negative comments, questioning the need for the fund
o Discriminatory comments often targeting members of Parliament or the Government in
general
o Comments questioning the integrity of New Zealand’s elections.
• Comments on the Electorate Manager advertising included:
o People expressing interest in the roles, or tagging their friends
o People questioning why Electorate Managers were required to be vaccinated against
COVID-19, and/or posting/linking to vaccine misinformation
o Posts supporting or against specific parties, candidates or members of Parliament,
either directly or euphemistically
o Comments questioning the integrity or New Zealand’s elections.
• We’ll be preparing a report based on this experience to feed into our ongoing trust and
integrity work, as it’s likely that further social media advertising will encounter similar issues.
Media
• The media have been on by-election watch and closely following the controversy involving two
electorate MPs. The recently elected National MP for Tauranga Sam Uffindell has been
suspended from caucus while an investigation is carried out into his past behaviour. The
Hamilton West MP Dr Gaurav Sharma has been expelled from the Labour caucus after a
breakdown in relations with his colleagues and is weighing up his future in Parliament. It’s yet
to be seen if events will trigger a by-election in either electorate.
• The Herald reported this month that a group associated with the protests at Parliament, Voices
for Freedom, is encouraging its members to apply for Electorate Manager roles with the
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Commission. The story included comment from the CEO on our recruitment process, including
the requirement for applicants to declare any political affiliations or conflicts of interest.
Voices for Freedom has also encouraged members to stand as candidates in the local elections.
• The Greymouth and Hokitika newspapers carried a story on the closure of the Greymouth
offices as part of the regional review. A local mayoral candidate voiced concern about the
timing of the closure during the local elections. There was comment in the story from the
Electoral Commission assuring locals they could still access services.
• Other stories of interest this month include ongoing coverage of the Labour and National
donations trial in Auckland, and the move by the Serious Fraud Office to appeal the High Court
decision in the New Zealand First Foundation trial. Coverage of the local elections included a
Spinoff article looking at whether the Commission should be more involved in running the local
elections.
• A selection of stories is attached in Appendix A.
Overarching communication and engagement strategy
• Discussions are being held with Senate SHJ to provide support to embed the overarching
communication and engagement strategy across the Commission and to complete work on an
implementation plan.
Other progress
•
‘In the News’ ─ a weekly round-up of media stories prepared during events ─ continues to be
provided to SMT and the Board on Fridays and be posted on ECHO for all staff.
•
Staff have ongoing involvement in organisation-wide initiatives:
o Membership on the Election Access Fund Steering Group
o Membership on the Incident Response Team
o Membership on the Health & Safety Working Group
o Membership on the Laptop Working Group
o Membership on the Sustainability Working Group
o Membership on the Digital Governance Group.
Risks
Nil
Risks
Nil
People management
TOIL or excess
•
Three Communications and Education team members have annual
annual leave
leave in excess of 25 days. One team member is on leave for
September and others have leave plans in place.
Recruitment
•
Interviews have been held to fill two permanent Digital
Communications and Education Advisor roles.
•
Advertisements will be coming out for Principal Advisor – Operations
and National Manager – Voting Services
Page 3 of 3
Preparing for an election Trust Following an initial conversation with the Board in May (involving Kate Hannah from the
Disinformation Project) the following three main objectives were identified:
• proactively build trust in the Commission and the election event
• actively guard against the causes of mistrust leading to consequences for the Commission and
the election event
• be prepared to respond to the consequences of mistrust for the Commission and the election
event should they occur.
A workshop was held with the Communications Team and Kate Hannah from the
Disinformation
Project in early August considering the main issues facing the Commission for GE2023 and
identifying opportunities for a response.
A draft framework setting out how the Commission will be building trust and protecting against
mistrust for GE2023 was discussed at ELT and is to be considered by the Board in its September
meeting.
Preparing for the future Election Access Fund
The project continues to make good progress despite working to tight timeframes. We are aiming
to have the fund ready to receive applications in October 2022.
Consultation with the public on ways the Commission is considering to implement the fund closed
on 14 August. 96 submissions were received.
A draft set of guidelines and operational policy paper – setting out an approach that will inform
the Commission in implementing the fund – were recently considered by the Steering Committee.
A panel is currently being established to consider applications once the fund goes live. The panel
will include representatives from the disability sector (who are currently being sought).
The team also continues to focus on development of the processes and tools that will be required
to support the Fund going live (e.g. applications process and financial payments approach /
mechanisms).
Data Platform Project
The data platform project continues to make good progress.
The back-end data platform capability, in which the data will be ‘refined’ in ways to support
broader use of data across the Commission, is under development. A closer version of the
approach that will ultimately be used across the business in future (i.e. including the full back-end
platform capability) is being rolled out to a small number of E&CE field staff for testing during local
body elections.
We are working with IT and are engaging a provider to undertake a privacy impact assessment.
Full certification and accreditation will be completed by the time the Minimum Viable Product
goes live in November.
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Annual report
A draft of the
2021-22 Annual Report was provided to the Board in early August.
Strategic work An environmental scanning exercise was conducted with the Board and ELT in August.
Information from the SMT environmental scanning exercise was provided to support this exercise.
International work We are aware that there has been limited engagement with the SMT about the International team
and the work they undertake. As a starting point, Karyl Winter ran an “International Team 101”
with the SMT in August.
International Liaison: We have continued to support the Tokelau Chief Electoral Officer in the review of the Tokelau
electoral laws and associated resources for electoral officials and voters. We will have an advisor
on the ground for two weeks in September to work with the senior officials on the rules and
manuals.
The Commonwealth Elections network has confirmed the conference to be held in Wellington on
the week 7-11 November 2022. There will be 11 Commonwealth EMBs from the Pacific invited
and possibly seven non-Commonwealth countries if funding can be sourced. The Manager
International will co-facilitate this conference. The theme of the conference will be absentee
voting.
International Electoral Assistance Programmes (MFAT funded): We continue progressing with MFAT:
• Extension of the Fiji programme – this has now been signed for a further eight months.
• The new Pacific Regional programme in partnership with UNDP is still underway and we hope
to launch this at the Commonwealth conference in November if it can be completed in time.
Fiji To date the writ has not been issued and we await the date along with the rest of Fiji. We are
collaborating with AEC to provide four advisors to be deployed out to the districts during the
election, the team was briefed recently and Manager International will be taking them in for a
week of induction in early September. Our support in training has continued with a further
deployment of our advisor in August where they travelled to several locations around the country
to train the field trainers.
Papua New Guinea Counting has been completed in all but two constituencies and the deadline for return of the writ
is early September. However it may need a further extension. We continue to support the TEW
system as they endeavour to pay all 44,000 staff for both polling and counting. Our team will
travel to PNG for the review of the election with the date yet to be announced.
Tonga The border opened on 1 August and we hope to arrange a trip in before the end of the year to
discuss our work programme.
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Pacific Regional Programme The MFAT lead on this project is now back in place and we have hope to progress this programme
soon. He has had discussions with UNDP and Manager International to progress and we are still
hopeful of an October start date.
Issues under management •
There are significant gaps in resourcing in the SGD group which need to be filled to continue
to deliver and to support building of the new capability and to meet expectations.
Risks •
SGD is unable to meet expectations of key stakeholders (including the Board) due to
resource and budget limitations.
People management
TOIL or excess annual
•
Nil
leave
Staff engagement
•
We have supported the transition to return to the office and
broader flexible working policies.
Other news
Nil
Page 4 of 4
