Dear Ministry of Justice,

On 24 June 2019, I received from Jeff Orr three copies of what is essentially the same letter - "No secret report into Ellis case". Were each of these letters, attributed to then Justice Minister Phil Goff, written by Justice Ministry officials? If so, which official(s) wrote each of the letters? Please provide me with all records about the writing of "No secret report into Ellis case" including communication between the then Minister and officials.

When was a copy of Sir Thomas Thorp’s report into the Peter Ellis case provided to journalist David McLoughlin, and was McLoughlin the first journalist supplied with a copy of the report? Please provide me with a copy of David McLoughlin’s request for a copy of the report, and all communication about his request.

On 30 April 2018, the Ministry’s Jacqueline Shannon provided me with information about child sexual abuse statistics for 1989 and 1995. Ms Shannon’s list of offence categories showed that charges were laid in in respect of 25 categories in 1989, and that charges were laid in respect of 72 categories in 1995. Did the number of offence categories increase between 1989 and 1995? Would all alleged offendors – charged in 1995 – have been captured by the offence categories that existed in 1989? In other words, in respect of alleged offenders who were charged 1995, would any have been unable to be charged in 1989 (assuming they committed the same offences in 1989 as they did in 1995) due to the fewer offence categories in 1989?

Yours faithfully,

Ross Francis