Immigration New Zealand spent $33 million building a new computer system over eight years. The project failed completely — it never worked. Minister Erica Stanford has said her officials deliberately kept information from her and did not tell two governments the truth about what was happening, according to RNZ.

The project was called the Immigration Global Management System (IGMS). It was supposed to replace old computer systems and let people apply for student visas online. It never did what it was meant to do. The failure became public on 15 June 2026, and The Post confirmed the $33 million had been lost.

The total cost may actually be higher. RNZ reported that $4.44 million was taken out of the project between 2022 and 2025. That money is separate from the $33 million already lost, so taxpayers may have paid out even more.

What went wrong

Minister Stanford says the problem was not just that the project failed. She says her officials deliberately hid what was happening. They kept Cabinet — the group of senior ministers who make government decisions — completely out of the loop. Cabinet is supposed to know what is going on in government and approve major decisions. Keeping them in the dark on a project this big is a serious breach.

The project had about a dozen different managers over eight years. That much staff turnover usually means something is seriously wrong — either the project was impossible to manage, or people inside were in conflict. With this project, it seems the real problem was that bad news never reached the people making decisions.

Several investigations have now been started to find out what happened and who is responsible. A watchdog has confirmed it will investigate. The details of what the investigations will look at have not been made public yet.

Why this matters

It is very unusual for a minister to accuse her own officials of deliberately hiding information. Ministers normally keep problems quiet and defend their staff in public. Stanford going public like this suggests something serious broke down between her and Immigration New Zealand. She may also be deciding that being honest now is better than trying to hide things before the investigations release their findings.

For the officials involved, the real question now is what the investigations will prove. Did they deliberately hide information, or did they just fail to pass it up the chain? If they deliberately hid information, the consequences for individuals will be serious.

Government IT projects often run into problems like this. That is why the Public Service Commission and Treasury have written guides on how to manage big projects properly. Whether those guides were followed here — or ignored — will be a key question in the investigations.

Right now, these facts are clear: $33 million is gone, the project delivered nothing, and the minister is in conflict with her officials. The full cost to taxpayers is not yet known, and the investigation into what went wrong has just begun.