14 October 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
John Luke
fyi-request-16765-
[email address]
Dear John
OIA request 21/22 0236 Request for information relating to the Racing Safety Development
Fund Industry Working Group
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 16 September 2021.
You requested –
1. I would like to know the name of the current member of this working group, term of
appointment, term of reference of this working group, and all current member's bio and
declaration of conflict of interest held on file.
2. I would also like to request the full meeting minutes of this working group meeting from
1st Jan 2019 to now.
3. How the Department call for public expression of interest to join this group, I noted you
have recently called for expression for it's chairperson position. Besides, the DIA's
website, what other method you have used? Also in the past, what method you have
used to call for public application?
Please find our response to your request below, which has been broken down by each question
for ease of reading.
Question one
Please find the Terms of Reference attached alongside this letter in Appendix A.
The Working Group consists of an independent Chair appointed by the Minister for Racing, and
representatives from the three racing codes. The Department on behalf of the Minister is
currently calling for expressions of interest for the Chair of the Working Group.
The representatives from the three racing codes are as follows -
1.
Tim Aldridge (New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing)
2.
Catherine McDonald (Harness Racing New Zealand)
3.
Michael Dore (New Zealand Greyhound Racing Association)
I can confirm the three members are appointed by the racing codes and their terms of
appointment are determined by the racing codes. I can also confirm the information you have
requested relating to the current members’ bios, term of appointment and any declarations of
conflict of interest is held by the racing codes, not the Department.
The portion of your request relating to members’ bios, terms of appointment and declarations
of conflict of interest must therefore be refused pursuant to section 18(g)(i) of the Act. This
section provides that the information requested is not held by the Department and the person
dealing with the request has no grounds for believing that the information is held by another
department (for itself and for a departmental agency hosted by it or an interdepartmental
executive board serviced by it) or interdepartmental venture or Minister of the Crown or
organisation, or by a local authority.
Question two
Please find the meeting minutes attached alongside this letter in ‘Appendix B’.
I note that the minutes for the meeting that took place on 26 May 2021 have not yet been
signed. This is because they do not get signed until the meeting minutes are confirmed as
correct and complete at the next meeting, currently expected to be held at the end of the year.
Although it is rare for the meeting minutes to be amended, I must advise that what you have
been provided with is considered a draft.
Question three
The Department is currently calling for expressions of interest through the following platforms:
• Department of Internal Affairs – statutory appointments page (www.dia.govt.nz)
• www.jobs.govt – Board and Governance appointments
• Institute of Directors – vacancies
The Department also invited nominations from the following five agencies:
• Ministry for Pacific Peoples
• Te Puni Kōkori
• Ministry for Women
• The Treasury
• Office for Disability Issues (Ministry of Social Development)
The Department invited Racing New Zealand by email, as the consultative forum for the racing
codes, to distribute the expression of interest information to the racing industry.
The past calls for nominations to the Chair of the Racing Safety Development Fund have been
advertised on the Department’s website.
Please do note however, the appointment of the three racing code representatives on the
Working Group is determined by the racing codes, and the Department is not involved in this
process.
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As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. All requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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