Request for documents received by Minister for COVID-19 Response

Ashleigh Fechney made this Official Information request to Chris Hipkins

The request was partially successful.

From: Ashleigh Fechney

Dear Chris Hipkins,

I request the following documents received by your office:

- Implementing the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout to Border Workers (BEB RPT 21/002)
- Draft Cabinet Paper - Refining and Improving the elimination strategy for COVID-19 (DPMC-2020/21-509)
- Elimination Strategy Update: Emergence of New Variants (DPMC-2020/21-484)
- Meeting with union leaders to discuss Tier 1a Vaccine rollout (2021-2918)
- Establishment of COVID-19 Engagement Mechanisms for Business (DPMC-2020/21-615)
- Further advice on stronger regulatory levers to support the Covid-19 vaccine rollout to border workers (2021-2776)
- Increase in Funding for COVID-19 Response Unit Due to COVID-19 Resurgence (DPMC-2020/21-612)

These documents have been identified as being received on the official COVID-19 website. I am unable to find any proactive releases.

https://covid19.govt.nz/about-our-covid-...

I have identified a number of additional documents that haven't been listed on the official COVID-19 website as being documents received by the Minister of COVID-19 Response.

I would therefore like to request copies of the following documents, as well as the reasons they have not been transparently listed as document received by the Minister of COVID-19 Response:

- Maximising uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Tier 1 (Briefing paper provided by the Ministry of Health, 10 February 2021).
- Briefing on Policy decisions: COVID-19 vaccination requirements for high risk work in managed isolation, and attached "options for additional support mechanisms for workers who are not vaccinated." (Briefing paper provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 16 April 2021)
- Briefing on COVID-19 Public Health response (Vaccinations) Order for signature. (Briefing paper provided by the Ministry of Health, 28 April 2021).
- Briefing on COVID-19 Vaccination requirements at the Border Tranche 2 Advice (Provided by Ministry of Transport, 12 May 2021).
- Briefing on Final policy decisions required to draft amendments to COVID-19 public health response order (Provided by Ministry of Health, 4 June 2021).
- Briefing on Further clarification on final policy decisions required to draft the amendments to the COVID-19 public health response order (Provided by Ministry of Health, 15 June 2021).
- Briefing on COVID-19 public health response amendment order 2021 for signing (Provided by Ministry of Health, 8 July 2021)

To ensure transparency, can you please let me know if there are other documents which have been received by the Minister for COVID-19 Response which have not been published on the website?

It would also be of assistance to have a list of documents received by the Minister of COVID-19 Response from June 2021 to December 2021.

Yours faithfully,

Ashleigh Fechney

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From: C Hipkins (MIN)
Chris Hipkins

Kia ora

 

Thank you for taking the time to write to Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for
COVID-19 Response, Minister of Education, Minister for the Public Sector
and Leader of the House.

We are receiving a significant amount of correspondence at the moment and,
although your email will be carefully considered and noted, it is not
possible to respond to each individual email. However, please note that
this is an automatic response and we will endeavour to respond to your
individual queries as soon as we can.

You can find the latest information and guidance about Alert Levels at
[1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
The locations of interest are set out
at [2]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
encourage anyone who has been at one of the locations of interest at the
time specified to self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. You
can find the nearest testing centre to you
at [3]https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.

We appreciate that this is a challenging time. If you need to talk, you
can call or text 1737 at any time. Mental health and wellbeing resources
are also available
at [4]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
about the financial support available to individuals and businesses can be
found at [5]https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-mon....

We also understand that there are several other aspects to the response
that are very important to people. You can find more information about:

o Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ)
at [6]https://www.miq.govt.nz/, including how to request an emergency
allocation
at [7]https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
make a complaint or request a review of your application by
emailing [8]https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us....
o Travel with Australia
at [9]https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
you are in Australia, please register
at [10]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ and if it is an emergency,
contact the Consulate on +64 99 20 20 20.
o Vaccines at [11]https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/, including
how to book your vaccine
at [12]https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/... by calling 0800 28
29 26.
o Vaccine data and statistics
at [13]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
Medsafe’s vaccine safety monitoring reports
at [14]https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
o The Government’s plan to reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the
world
at [16]https://covid19.govt.nz/reconnecting-new....

Please remember to take care, and be kind. We have beaten COVID-19 before,
and we can do it again.

Ngā mihi,

Office of Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the
Public Sector | Leader of the House | MP for Remutaka

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From: Yuuki Smithers

Kia ora Ashleigh,

Thank you for your request for official information. The Minister’s Office reference number for your request is: CHOIA181.

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Office will endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after the day your request was received. If you'd like to calculate the timeframe, you can use the Ombudsman's online calculator here: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/.

Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Office is experiencing significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we will notify you of an extension of that time frame.

If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Ngâ mihi

Yuuki Smithers | Health Private Secretary
Office of Hon Chris Hipkins
Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the Public Service | Leader of the House
Parliament Buildings, Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

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From: Ashleigh Fechney

Dear Yuuki Smithers,

I understand that the response date for this request was 19 January 2022. Can you please urgently provide an update on the requested information?

Yours sincerely,

Ashleigh Fechney

Link to this

From: Yuuki Smithers

This email address is no longer monitored. For further information, please
contact the Office of the Minister for COVID-19 Response directly at
[Chris Hipkins request email]

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From: Ashleigh Fechney

Dear Chris Hipkins,

The Minister’s Office reference number for my request is: CHOIA181.

I understand that the response date for this request was 19 January 2022. Can you please urgently provide an update on the requested information?

Yours faithfully,

Ashleigh Fechney

Link to this

From: C Hipkins (MIN)
Chris Hipkins

Thank you for your email.

 

Please accept this as acknowledgement that your email has been received by
my office.

 

General COVID-19 information and testing

 

All the latest COVID-19 information can be found at [1]covid19.govt.nz

 

Locations of interest [2]can be found here. You can also call Healthline
free on 0800 611 116 for health advice and information, including where to
get tested.

 

Vaccination

 

To get your COVID-19 vaccination head
to [3]bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz or to the [4]Healthpoint website to
find a vaccination site near you.

 

For help with My Vaccine Pass you can call 0800 222 478 or head
to [5]mycovidrecord.health.nz to get it online.

Managed Isolation

Anyone with queries regarding MIQ should contact +64 4 931 5720 if you’re
overseas (rates will apply) or 0800 476 647 if you’re in New Zealand.

You can also submit an enquiry via the [6]MIQ website.

 

Anyone with queries about changes to flights should
email [7][email address] with a copy of their original flight
ticket and their voucher, and details of the new flight number. This email
is monitored 24/7.

MIQ will continue to process [8]Emergency
Allocation and [9]Exemption requests. If you require an update on an
existing application then you can view the live status of your application
via the MIQ customer portal at any time.

Future room releases will be announced on the MIQ website and social media
platforms.

COVID-19 Protection Framework

 

If you have questions about the traffic light system, you can [10]make an
enquiry here.    

We appreciate your patience. 

Thanks again.
Authorised by Chris Hipkins MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

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From: Daniel Martin


Attachment CHOIA181 Binder Redacted.pdf
8.6M Download View as HTML

Attachment CHOIA181 Response.pdf
536K Download View as HTML


Kia ora Ashleigh,

Please find attached the Ministers response to your request for official information.

Ngâ mihi,

Daniel Martin
Health Private Secretary
Office of Hon Chris Hipkins
Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the Public Service | Leader of the House
Parliament Buildings, Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

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