ChildSafeNZ

In 2024, during a live $750,000 TEC funding application, a private provider texted the Minister of Education asking for “advice or support.” Erica Stanford then contacted Penny Simmonds - the minister responsible for the tertiary portfolio - to ask how the funding process works and the timeframes.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t normal.

Public funding decisions rely on a basic firewall:
Applicants go through the agency. Officials handle process enquiries. Ministers don’t become intermediaries in live applications. And official ministerial conversations are expected to be recorded.

Even if you insist it was “only process,” that still leaves the same problem:
Why was a schools Minister engaging in tertiary funding process enquiries at all, prompted by an applicant, and where is the routine record of that engagement?

So here’s what the public is entitled to:
• a record of the call (file note/diary/email)
• confirmation of what advice was provided
• whether any officials were engaged
• and whether this level of access is available to every applicant or only some

You don’t get to hide behind “proper process” while refusing to show the paperwork that proves it.

Silence is NEVER neutral - it’s a decision to run the clock and hope the public forgets.

I won’t.

Penny Simmonds MP - your portfolio. Your agency. Your problem.

If minister-to-minister calls about live funding applications are normal, say so and publish the protocol.

If they’re not normal, explain why it happened here.

Because what the public sees is a firewall (between public money and private access) catching fire - and you two standing there like “this is fine.”

No. It isn’t!!!!!!!!!!

Christopher Luxon

They also help haul children out of cyclic poverty and deprivation.

The “gravy train” line gets repeated a lot — but repetition doesn’t make it true.
Treaty settlements aren’t handouts. They’re legal agreements acknowledging that the Crown broke its own promises and took land, resources, and economic foundations that can never fully be returned.
Most settlements are a tiny fraction of what was lost, and the money doesn’t go into individuals’ pockets — it goes into long-term iwi projects like housing, education, health, and jobs for future generations.
Calling that a “gravy train” doesn’t expose injustice.
It ignores history and mocks the idea of accountability.
If justice feels like generosity to you, it might be time to ask why.