Waipareira Trust runs to court to keep the gravy train alive

Waipareira Trust is fighting for its survival in the High Court, trying desperately to block its long-overdue deregistration as a charity. Waipareira Trust in my personal opinion is one of the biggest scams in modern New Zealand history. A so-called charitable organisation that has been run like a political slush fund, serving the interests of one man, John Tamihere, while the rest of Māoridom gets treated like scum.

This is Māori elitism at its worst. While grassroots Māori struggle with housing, healthcare and opportunity, the likes of Tamihere and his tight circle in the so-called Māori elite look after themselves, treat other Māori like dirt, and pocket the benefits of public funding and tax-exempt status. Waipareira has become an empire-building exercise for one of the dodgiest barstards this country has ever seen.

John Tamihere, the self-appointed leader of Māori political thought, is nothing more than a master manipulator. A grifter. Probably New Zealand’s greatest conman. The man has used Waipareira as his personal piggy bank, advancing nearly $400,000 of charitable money to fund his political vanity projects, including his failed 2019 Auckland mayoral campaign and Te Pāti Māori’s 2020 general election efforts.

Once caught out, the money was suddenly reframed as "no-interest related-party loans." Repayments only trickled back after years of pressure. Meanwhile, executive salaries at the Trust skyrocketed to over half a million dollars, making them the highest in New Zealand’s entire charity sector. This is a “charity” in name only.

Even after being warned multiple times and being the subject of lengthy probes by Charities Services, Waipareira still had the audacity to use its taxpayer-supported Matariki festival to launch a political campaign in 2023. The arrogance is staggering.

Now, after years of ducking and weaving, Tamihere’s Trust is trying to stall its deregistration through a judicial review, wasting more time, more money, and showing no remorse. Tamihere himself refused to answer any questions about the legal costs being paid out of the Trust's funds. Instead, he responded with arrogance and contempt: "Your caucacity never fails to amaze me."