Printed from https://fyi.org.nz/request/16814-referral-of-request-to-standing-orders-committee on December 27, 2024 06:14

Referral of request to Standing Orders Committee

John Creser made this Official Information request to Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives

The request was partially successful.

From: John Creser

Dear Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives,

I'm writing to request that your office refer the following to the Standing Orders Committee <[email address]>

I'm writing in respect of petition https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petition...

I am concerned because I was not provided with a copy of the draft report to consider the adverse findings nor given a reasonable opportunity to make submissions on those findings.

The contents of this report are supposed to become publicly available after the committee reports to the House, and I've now asked the clerk of the house to disclose the reasons for the draft report referred to in the committee minutes.

Obviously its my goal to have this matter dealt with and my evidence and submissions be properly considered, therefore I'd like to request that your committee consider if the process meets your requirements under standing orders for petitions which require they be dealt with according to the rules of fair play and natural justice.

Kind regards,

John Creser

Footnote: I'm referring this matter to your office after receiving advice from the following automated acknowledgment which appears several years out of date.

4:06 PM (4 minutes ago) 20 September 2021

to [email address]
Kia ora,
Thank you for your email.

The 52nd Parliament was dissolved on Sunday, 6 September. As a result, the Standing Orders Committee does not currently exist. It will be re-established when Parliament resumes after the election.

Any correspondence sent to this inbox will not be passed on to the committee until the new committee meets at the start of the 53rd Parliament.

We will be in touch if your query can be answered before the committee is re-established. Any response will be sent on behalf of the Clerk of the House, rather than the committee.

If you have any further questions, please contact our team at Select Committee Services on 04 817 9520 or [email address].

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Ngā mihi nui,

Select committee staff

Yours faithfully,

John Creser

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John Creser left an annotation ()

RE: Official Information request - Request for the report of petition 87688 dated 1 April 2021 and 12August 2021

The following response from David Wilson does not answer the request for the reasons the committee took no further action as per s3.2 of the minutes which stated
Resolved, "That the committee write to Mr Creser outlining the committee’s reasons for not taking further action on his petition".

Dear Mr Creser

I now have eight emails from you, asking questions that are not in the nature of Official Information Act requests. Therefore, I am replying to your personal email address, rather than the FYI site. The answers are set out below each question.

1. You've confirmed there was no notice of hearing because there was no hearing. I understand there is no requirement for a public notification, however the notice I seek refers to the procedural requirement that other committee members be given a days notice beforehand.

Can you confirm if any such notice was issued

Yes.

Can you also please confirm that the committee sought no evidence to support the petition?

Yes.

You've said; "The way in which a committee deals with a petition is entirely for it to determine." Does this mean that under a Labour Government the committee does not have to abide by the rules of fair play and natural justice?

It means exactly what I said in the email to which you refer. I make no comment on the government because I do not work for it or represent it.

You've said; "While the secretariat may give advice, it acts on the decision of the committee." Does this mean the committee told the secretariat not to provide me with any assistance in obtaining evidence to support the petition?

It means that the secretariat acts on the decisions of the committee. If no decision is made to seek evidence, none is sought.

Even after posting my request to their website on Facebook, there was no response. Could you please advise why the secretariat did not offer any assistance with this petition?

See the previous answer.

Are you saying that all of the proceedings held on April fools day 2021 were held in private?

The only part of a select committee meeting that is open to the public is the hearing of submissions. The subcommittee did not hear any submissions on 1 April so the meeting was not open to the public.

As you're aware I was not provided with a copy of the draft report to consider the adverse findings nor given a reasonable opportunity to make submissions on those findings.

No adverse findings were made in the report. The report made no findings at all.

The contents of this report are supposed to become publicly available after the committee reports to the House, therefore I repeat my request for both versions of the report be disclosed to me in respect of the following petition.

The report did become public as soon as it was reported to the House. It is in the link that you emailed to me. Draft reports are not disclosed publicly.

I'm writing to request that your office refer the following to the Standing Orders Committee

I will provide your email to the Standing Orders Committee. However, its role is to consider how the Standing Orders are working and whether they need amendment. It does not oversee the work of other committees or form judgements about how they deal with individual items of business such as petitions. The committee mainly meets in the final year of a parliament.

Thank you for pointing out the auto-reply message is still on. The committee has been formed recently so that message is no longer relevant and will be switched off.

David Wilson (he/him)
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Manahautū o te Whare Māngai

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives only: