An independent review of the Ministry of Primary Industries’ investigation into animal welfare allegations against a National MP’s family dairy farm has found the matter was handled properly and “not motivated by improper purpose”.
In October, Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger resigned as National’s agriculture spokesperson after the party’s leader, Christopher Luxon, became aware of her family’s “personal dispute” with the MPI.
In 2020, Kuriger’s son, Tony, and his company, Oxbow Dairies, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty offences.
Following the prosecution, Barbara Kuriger, who was a director of the company until 2014 when she entered parliament, complained to MPI about the conduct of the investigation and prosecution, including why other people were not prosecuted alongside her son and Oxbow.
In August, following correspondence with the ombudsman, MPI, through Crown Law, engaged Mike Heron KC to undertake an independent review of their work on the case.
The Kurigers’ lawyer, former National party cabinet minister and attorney-general Chris Finlayson KC, had also requested an independent review.
The review, which was made public yesterday, was to consider whether MPI’s handling of its investigation into the Kuriger’s business was “adequate and whether it was affected by improper motivation”.
It looked at the ministry’s 2017 investigation of Oxbow and others in relation to alleged offending against the Animal Welfare Act, MPI’s response to allegations in 2020 of offending by others, and its handling of correspondence related to the case.
In his review, Heron said the MPI investigation was “adequate, was conducted in accordance with the MPI Prosecution Policy and solicitor-general’s prosecution guidelines, and was not motivated by any improper purpose”.
He found Barbara Kuriger’s complaints about the investigation were “not made out”, meaning she had no grounds for her complaints, and that they did not impact the adequacy of the investigation. MPI’s response that Kuriger’s complaint required no further action was appropriate and correspondence with the family following the complaint was “handled appropriately and respectfully”.
Despite his findings, Heron acknowledged the situation Tony faced was “complex and seemingly intractable”.
“We can understand the sentiment of unfairness, expressed to us in the course of this review, and the feeling that Tony was not getting support from those who could be expected to assist,” he wrote.
Since Kuriger’s resignation, Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller has been National’s acting spokesperson for agriculture, biosecurity, and food safety – portfolios he held before becoming the party’s leader in 2020.
Luxon had previously ruled out Kuriger returning to an agricultural portfolio. He is expected to do a wider reshuffle in the new year.
