Stanford backs MBIE head 'for now' after $50.7m immigration IT write-off
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says she has confidence in MBIE chief executive Nic Blakeley "for now", after the ministry confirmed $50.7 million in taxpayer money was spent on two abandoned Immigration New Zealand technology projects.
Blakeley gave the figure to MPs on a select committee — a small group of MPs that checks government spending. The total was $42 million for the Biometric Capability Upgrade, the BCU, and $8.7 million for the Immigration Profiling Engine, the IPE, according to the NZ Herald. The systems covered fingerprint and facial recognition checks. Both projects have been scrapped.
Blakeley told the committee the final bill could still rise as the ministry looks closer at its financial controls. He offered his resignation to Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche. Roche turned it down, in part because Blakeley was new to the role and had apologised without reservation, according to RNZ.
Stanford said she was extremely disappointed about the wasted money. She said she had no confidence that $50 million was the end of the costs. She said she expected Blakeley to hold people accountable.
The minister said she was awaiting the outcome of the Public Service Commission inquiry by Michael Heron KC into the handling of the projects. That inquiry will examine how the upgrades were managed and overseen inside MBIE.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters described the $50 million waste as "that's dismissal stuff". He said Blakeley should have stood down pending the inquiry.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins described the climbing costs as "totally and utterly unacceptable". Labour had said on 1 September that Blakeley's position was now "untenable". That call was made before the $50.7 million figure was confirmed to the committee.
Stanford has changed her language over time. She had earlier refused to say Blakeley had her confidence. She later expressed confidence in him to fix the ministry, saying "there is a rot". She has also said her confidence in MBIE had been knocked by the saga.
Her ministerial diaries show direct contact through the middle of the year. The June 2026 diary records a phone call with Blakeley about the Biometric Capability Upgrade on 14 June 2026. The July 2026 diary includes an entry for Blakeley on 28 July 2026.
The broader context here is that ministers do not hire or fire chief executives. That power sits with the commissioner. Stanford can express confidence, or withhold it, but any decision on Blakeley's future rests with Sir Brian Roche, informed by the Heron inquiry. The wording matters. "For now" keeps the option open without getting ahead of an independent process. It also leaves Blakeley to front committee scrutiny and the internal accountability work while the inquiry runs.
Looking ahead, what will matter next is whether the final cost moves beyond $50.7 million, what Heron finds on oversight and advice to ministers, and whether Stanford judges that Blakeley has delivered the accountability she has demanded.
