Dear Lance
I understand that you made a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the
response to your request dated 13 August 2019, pursuant to the Official Information Act
1982. You queried why no further communication was found to be within scope of your
request.
No information was found to be in scope of your original request because it was interpreted
as asking for correspondence directly between myself and Phil Twyford regarding the “Let’s
Get Wellington Moving letter”.
Your complaint suggests you may have expected a broader interpretation of your request.
In response to your recent complaint, I have reassessed your request with a broader
interpretation that includes correspondence between staff in my office and Minister Twyford’s
office.
The following correspondence between our offices falls within this broader interpretation of
your request:
1. emails discussing responses to media enquiries about the letter
2. emails discussing responses to written and oral parliamentary questions about the
letter
3. emails discussing responses to Official Information Act requests about the letter
4. emails discussing the Ombudsman’s investigation of complaints about the non-
release of the letter.
This information is being withheld in full under sections 9(2)(g)(i) and 9(2)(f)(iv) in order to:
maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression
of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an organisation
or offices and employees of any department or organisation in the course of their
duty; and
maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the
confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
In addition, some of the emails that fall under point four are also withheld under section
9(2)(h) of the Act, as they contain advice from Cabinet Office that is subject to legal
professional privilege.
I note the final responses for Parliamentary Questions are publicly available on the
Parliament website at:
www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business.
In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the Act.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act 1982 to make a complaint about the
withholding of information to the Ombudsman. You can contact the Office of the
Ombudsman a
t [email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Hon Julie Anne Genter
Associate Minister of Transport