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“The Inner Circle’s Silence: Wally Haumaha, the McSkimming Cover-Up, and the Colonial Patterns That Never Change “ - 18 November 2025

Cui Malo: Who Benefits from Police Protecting Their Own?

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

18 Nov 2025 — 17 min read

When former Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha distances himself from Jevon McSkimming and Andrew Coster, claiming ignorance of the cover-up that consumed Police leadership, the question isn’t whether we believe him. The question is:

why should Māori trust any institution where the second-highest-ranking officer—a member of the Police Executive since 2007—can plausibly claim he knew nothing about criminal allegations, a sexual relationship, or a coordinated effort to protect a senior officer while prosecuting his victim?^[1]

This isn’t just about one man’s denial. This is about an institution that, 180 years after its founding as the Armed Police Force (APF) in 1846 to suppress Māori “hostiles”, still operates with the same colonial logic:

protect power, silence victims, close ranks.^[2][3]

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report released November 2025 exposes serious misconduct by senior police officers, including former Commissioner Andrew Coster, in their handling of complaints against McSkimming. A young woman—identified only as Ms Z—made allegations of sexual assault, threats involving intimate images, and misuse of police resources. Instead of investigating McSkimming, police charged her with causing harm by posting digital communication in May 2024, placed her under restrictive bail, and silenced her with suppression orders.^{[4][5][6][7][1]}

Māori are vastly over-represented in police use of force (55%), prosecutions, convictions (44%), and prison population (50%) compared to their 16.5% share of the general population, revealing systemic bias in the justice system.

Haumaha claims he “was not part of any inner circle privy to these details”. Yet he was Deputy Commissioner. He sat on the Police Executive. He retired January 2024—the exact month Coster received an email stating: “Next time you attend church events... make sure to ask Jevon... how many unsolicited photos he takes to try blackmail them into silence”. That email was sent to Coster on January 24, 2024. Haumaha retired January 2024. Coincidence?^[1][4]

The Whakapapa of Wally Haumaha: A Pattern Repeating

Haumaha’s history reveals the rotational amnesia at the heart of police culture. In 2004, during Operation Austin—the investigation into Louise Nicholas’ rape allegations against police officers Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum, and Clint Rickards—Haumaha was interviewed. He described Shipton as a “big softie” and Schollum as a “legend” with women. One officer told investigators that Haumaha called Nicholas’ allegations “a nonsense” and said “nothing really happened and we have to stick together”.^[8][9][10]

Shipton and Schollum were later convicted of the 1989 Mt Maunganui rape, where a woman was handcuffed, gang-raped, and violated with a police baton. Yet Haumaha supported them. When he was appointed Deputy Commissioner in 2018, Louise Nicholas publicly opposed the appointment, citing his 2004 comments.^[11][9][12]

In 2018, an IPCA report found Haumaha’s behavior “inappropriate and unprofessional” but not workplace bullying. He publicly apologized to Louise Nicholas. A Government inquiry concluded his appointment process was “adequate and fit for purpose”.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Then, in 2024, when the McSkimming scandal erupted, Haumaha was nowhere to be found. He claims he “wasn’t aware of McSkimming’s affair, or the extent of the allegations”. He says he told the IPCA “I had no idea of McSkimming’s affair” despite being on the Police Executive since 2007.^[1]

This is the institutional amnesia that protects power. Haumaha (Te Arawa, Tainui, Mātaatua) is Māori. Yet his career demonstrates how colonial institutions co-opt Māori into enforcing colonial logic. He now works with The Lakes Trust for Te Arawa and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities—tokenized Māori expertise deployed to legitimize the very systems that harm us.^[1]

The Executive Exodus: A Leadership Vacuum Exposed

In less than one year, New Zealand Police lost 1 Commissioner, 3 Deputy Commissioners, 3 Assistant Commissioners, and 2+ senior executives—a leadership collapse following the McSkimming cover-up scandal and IPCA investigation.

The McSkimming scandal triggered an unprecedented exodus of senior police leadership: in less than one year, New Zealand Police lost 1 Commissioner, 3 Deputy Commissioners, 3 Assistant Commissioners, and at least 2 senior executives. A police spokesperson called these “personal” choices.^[1]

Personal? When the IPCA finds that Coster convened a meeting to ensure “natural justice” for McSkimming and bring the investigation to a “rapid and premature conclusion”? When senior officers held “an entrenched view” that McSkimming was a victim, not an offender, and were “unduly preoccupied” with protecting his career prospects?^[18]

Coster left the police in November 2024 to become chief executive of the Social Investment Agency. After the IPCA report, he was placed on leave. Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Te Kanawa), the first female Deputy Commissioner, retired July 2025 after the IPCA found she failed to make “sufficiently robust enquiries” and relied “too readily” on McSkimming’s account.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

Three staff members are under employment investigation for what Commissioner Richard Chambers called a “cover-up”. An independent King’s Counsel is conducting the investigations. They remain in their roles.^[28][1]

Hidden connection #1: The same institutional patterns that protected Rickards, Shipton, and Schollum in the 2000s—closing ranks, discrediting victims, prioritizing reputation—are still operational in 2024. The Louise Nicholas case led to the 2007 Bazley Commission, which found a police culture where sexual assault claims were treated with skepticism. Yet 18 years later, Ms Z’s allegations were treated identically: ignored, then weaponized against her.^[10][29]

Hidden connection #2: Haumaha’s career trajectory—from defending rapists in 2004, to being promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2018 despite IPCA criticism, to retiring conveniently in January 2024—demonstrates how the institution rewards loyalty over integrity. The same logic that allows Haumaha to claim ignorance allows Coster to say McSkimming was a “victim.”

Hidden connection #3: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon agreed there was a cover-up. He called the treatment of Ms Z “confronting, appalling, shocking, disgusting”. Yet the Government’s response—appointing an Inspector-General of Police—is structural tinkering without addressing the colonial whakapapa of police violence.^[30][28]

The Māori Dimension: Structural Racism as Policy

For Māori, this scandal isn’t exceptional—it’s exemplary. It reveals the operational logic of an institution founded to suppress us, that continues to harm us disproportionately.

Despite 72% of Māori recognizing racism in NZ Police, 70% still maintain trust in the force and 82% value police work—a contradiction reflecting complex relationships between Māori communities and colonial institutions.

The data is unequivocal:

Māori are 16.5% of the population but 44% of total convictions and over 50% of the prison population^[31][32]
Māori make up 55% of police use of force complaints^[33]
Being Māori increases prosecution likelihood by 11% compared to Pākehā, all else equal^[34]
Māori are more than 7 times more likely than Pākehā to be on the receiving end of police force^[35]
81% of complaints about cultural sensitivity involve Māori^[33]

The 2024 Understanding Police Delivery report found “bias” and “structural racism” are why Māori are more likely to be stopped, prosecuted, and tasered. Police Minister Mark Mitchell denied there was bias, saying “I don’t think there is systemic bias in the police at all”. Yet the report’s own findings say otherwise.^[31][34]

The contradiction: Despite 72% of Māori believing there is racism in NZ Police, 82% still value the work police do. This isn’t cognitive dissonance—it’s survival. Māori communities know the police are racist and know we need someone to call when whānau are harmed. We live in the tension because we have no choice.^[36]

Hidden connection #4: Moana Jackson’s 1988 report He Whaipaanga Hou documented systemic racism in the justice system. Thirty-seven years later, Emmy Rākete notes: “From Moana Jackson’s He Whaipaanga Hou report in the 1980s through every decade since then the New Zealand police have been shown that they engage in racist discrimination against Māori, the police apologize for engaging in racist discrimination against Māori and the police go straight back to engaging in racist discrimination against Māori”.^{[37][38][39][34]}

Hidden connection #5: The police were founded in 1846 as the Armed Police Force, modeled on the paramilitary constabulary in Ireland, “to combat Māori hostiles and keep civil order”. Their task was “armed surveillance patrols in ‘untamed’ (mainly Māori-controlled) areas”. In 1885, they changed uniforms and became the New Zealand Police. The institutional DNA has not changed. As Emilie Rākete writes: “The war on our streets, the war overwhelmingly waged by the police against the Māori proletariat, is far from a metaphor”.^[2][3][40]

Te Tiriti Breached: Rangatiratanga Denied

Article Two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi guarantees “te tino rangatiratanga”—chieftainship over lands, villages, and treasured things. The principle of rangatiratanga means self-determination, the authority to protect what is tapu.^{[41][42][43][44]}

When police target Māori at disproportionate rates, when they stop and photograph rangatahi Māori for databases, when they apply force against Māori 7+ times more than Pākehā—this is a direct violation of rangatiratanga. It denies Māori communities the authority to protect our taonga: our mokopuna, our whānau, our mana.^[45][35]

The Waitangi Tribunal’s Justice System Kaupapa Inquiry (WAI 3060) is examining institutional racism, discrimination in policing, and bias in policy. Yet while the Tribunal investigates, Māori are still being shot, tasered, and imprisoned at catastrophic rates.^[31][46][47]

Moana Jackson testified to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care that the colonial state’s subordination of “Iwi and Hapū mana and tino rangatiratanga” limits “the ability to properly protect what are the most important taonga for any people - the land, the culture, and the mokopuna”. When police protect their own predators while prosecuting Māori victims, this is colonialism operationalized.^[48]

The Fallacies Named

1. The “Few Bad Apples” Fallacy: Haumaha, Coster, Kura, McSkimming—these aren’t exceptions. They’re products of an institutional culture. When in less than a year, 8+ senior executives leave, the orchard is rotten.^[1]

2. The “Isolated Incident” Fallacy: The McSkimming case mirrors the Louise Nicholas case, which mirrored decades of police sexual violence. This isn’t isolated—it’s patterned.^[10]

3. The “We’ve Changed” Fallacy: Police claim they’ve reformed since the 2007 Bazley Report. Yet Ms Z’s 2023-2024 treatment proves the opposite.^[4][10]

4. The “Māori Officer = Progress” Fallacy: Haumaha and Kura’s Māori whakapapa doesn’t make the police less colonial. It demonstrates how tokenization co-opts Māori into enforcing colonial systems. As of June 2023, Māori are 12.9% of police staff—underrepresented relative to 16.5% of the population. On the TV show Police Ten 7, Māori officers are only 3% of those shown, while Māori suspects are 70.8%.^[32][49]

Quantified Harm

The damage to Māori communities is measurable and generational:

The 2013 Stats NZ study found Māori who identify as sole Māori ethnicity have mean trust in police of 5.9/10, compared to 6.5/10 for Māori with multiple ethnicities—suggesting stronger cultural connection correlates with lower trust^[50]
Māori women now make up 64% of the female prison population, up significantly since 1988^[39]
Māori youth arrest rates show Māori are 3.3 times more likely than non-Māori to be apprehended for violent offenses^[51]

The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care found Māori children were 70-80% of some welfare institutions by the 1970s, despite being 12% of the population. Many became gang members after enduring physical, psychological, and sexual abuse in state care. The pipeline from state “care” to police violence to prison is well-documented.^[52]

Implications: A Crisis of Legitimacy

When the second-highest police officer can claim ignorance of a cover-up at the highest levels, when a Commissioner can protect a predator and prosecute the victim, when Māori make up 55% of use-of-force complaints but the Police Minister denies systemic bias—the institution has lost moral authority.

Current Police Commissioner Richard Chambers emailed staff after McSkimming’s charges: “I am aware there are many who are angry and feel let down... I feel the same”. One officer told RNZ: “At police college we got a talk about how much the historic sexual abuse allegations from Rotorua tarnished our image. They would stop someone during a routine traffic stop and be told ‘just don’t rape me’ many years after the allegation came out people were still talking about it”.^[53]

This is the reputational cost of institutional betrayal. But for Māori, the cost isn’t reputational—it’s existential. When police arrest rangatahi at 3.3 times the rate of non-Māori, when Māori are 7+ times more likely to have force used against them, when Māori women are 64% of female prisoners—we are not safe from the institution tasked with keeping us safe.^[35][51][39]

Rangatiratanga Action: What Must Be Done

Immediate actions:

Release the full IPCA report without redactions. Name every officer involved.
Criminal charges against those who weaponized the justice system against Ms Z.
Compensation and apology to Ms Z, with trauma support designed by Māori for Māori.
Suspend all officers under investigation pending King’s Counsel findings.

Structural changes:

Implement all 40 recommendations from the Understanding Police Delivery report, not just 8.^[34][33]
Māori-led oversight: Establish a Māori Police Conduct Authority with power to investigate, discipline, and prosecute.
Divest police functions: Fund Māori Wardens and iwi-based community safety models. Police should not be first responders for mental health, homelessness, or rangatahi in crisis.^[54]
Abolish Armed Response Teams permanently: The 2020 Waitangi Tribunal claim argued ARTs breached Te Tiriti by failing to consult Māori. Coster scrapped ARTs after public opposition. They must never return.^[55]

Long-term transformation:

Truth and reconciliation process: Modeled on the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care, investigate 180 years of police violence against Māori, from the 1846 Armed Police Force to 2025.
Rangatiratanga restored: As Emilie Rākete argues, “Our people need social and economic justice and we need the rangatiratanga that was promised to us in Te Tiriti”. Fund iwi and hapū to design and deliver justice systems rooted in tikanga.^[34]

The Moral Clarity

Wally Haumaha now works with Te Arawa communities. He is Māori. Yet his career—defending rapists, claiming ignorance of cover-ups, benefiting from institutional protection—is a warning:

colonial institutions will always prioritize their own survival over justice.^[1]

The McSkimming scandal isn’t about one predator. It’s about an institution that still functions as it did in 1846: suppressing those who threaten its power. For 180 years, that has meant suppressing Māori.^[2][3]

Louise Nicholas, after decades of advocacy, was dropped by the current Government in 2023. She said: “It’s back to battle we go.” For Māori, the battle never stopped.

Ka tū. We stand.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

Research conducted November 2025 using: IPCA reports, RNZ, NZ Herald, Stats NZ, Te Ara Encyclopedia, Waitangi Tribunal records, Understanding Police Delivery report (2024), He Whaipaanga Hou (Moana Jackson, 1988), Royal Commission into Abuse in Care findings. All sources verified live as of November 18, 2025.

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