MoT to review processes after Clean Car submissions spammed

The Ministry of Transport will do a thorough assessment of online processes after officials mistakenly flagged emails received as part of the Clean Car Standard and Discount public consultation as spam.

“The whole purpose of the public consultation process is for individuals and organisations to voice their views on a policy proposal. It was wrong for legitimate submissions to be flagged as spam,” MoT chief executive Peter Mersi says.

“I want to assure all those who made submissions through the Campaignnow website that their views will be considered as part of the analysis process.

“Information from the submissions we received will serve to inform the advice given to ministers on the policy proposal later this year.”

About 1644 submissions were received from the same email address, and the majority were sent over a short period of time. “This, and the fact that the emails themselves were largely identical in content, led ministry staff to conclude they were being sent as part of an automated process,” Mersi says.

“The ministry only became aware that the submissions came from a legitimate source following media statements from the National Party.”

Mersi says a thorough internal assessment will be held to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again.

And he intends personally apologising to National leader Simon Bridges for the “lapse” after Bridges raised the issue.