26 May 2022
45 Pipitea St
PO Box 805
John Smith
Wellington 6140
Via em
ail: [FYI request #19235 email]
Phone +64 4 495 7200
Fax +64 4 495 7222
Websit
e dia.govt.nz
Tēnā koe John
Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 29 April 2022 (ref OIA2122-0738)
Thank you for your OIA request dated 29 April 2022 to the Department of Internal Affairs
(Department). You asked for the following information:
“In the 2021 Digital Violent Extremism Transparency Report content is referred to as
"anarchist".
Could you please supply to me:
- any definitions or guidelines the DIA is using for the "anarchist" criteria.
- copies of the content, or descriptions of the content, labelled as "anarchist" in the report.
- any internal communications or meeting minutes pertaining to the use of the word
"anarchist" and its definition.”
The Department has addressed each part of your question below.
Any definitions or guidelines the Department is using for the "anarchist" criteria
The Department uses the following as a guideline for “anarchist” but not as academic
definition: “the belief that society should have no government, laws, police, or other
authorities”. This guideline is primarily designed to help inform the investigators who review
any relevant objectionable material.
This guideline aligns with guidance from the Combined Threat Assessment Group about the
key features of an ideology namely, “it is a set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or
symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or group that explains how society should
work, and offers some political and cultural plans for a certain social order.”
Copies of the content, or descriptions of the content, labelled as "anarchist" in the report
The Department is unable to release copies of the content or descriptions of the content,
labelled as “anarchist” in the Digital Violent Extremism Transparency Report which was
released in April 2022. We are withholding this material under section 6(c) of the OIA as the
making available of this information would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law.
In particular, this material is harmful to the New Zealand public and potentially qualifies as
objectionable material which should not be disseminated further.
Any internal communications or meeting minutes pertaining to the use of the word
"anarchist" and its definition
We undertook an initial search of our Cohesion folders and other areas for internal
communications and meeting minutes relating to the use of the word “anarchist” and its
definition, but we were unable to locate any recent material.
To meet this part of your request a more extensive search is required. In particular, we
would need to search through document management systems and the electronic inboxes of
current and former staff of the Digital Safety Group and others to locate any relevant
material. Such work would take many months to complete to the detriment of our other
operations especially since there is no specified timeframe for this part of your request.
Therefore, we are refusing this part of your request under section 18(f) of the OIA due to the
substantial amount of work that would be required to research and collate the information
you have requested.
We have considered whether charging or extending the timeframe for responding to this
part of your request would help, as required by section 18A of the OIA. However, due to the
open-ended nature of this particular request, we did not consider that these options would
assist.
We have also considered consulting you on this matter, as required by section 18B of the
OIA. However, we could not consult you as your request came through the FYI website.
We welcome any further OIA requests from you. For any future requests, we would
recommend that you give us as much detail as possible about the information you are
seeking (including time periods) to assist us to process your request.
Access to the Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the Department’s decision on your request for information, you
have the right, under section 28 of the OIA, to make a complaint to the Office of the
Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman can be contacted by phone on 0800 802 602,
via post at PO Box 10152 Wellington, or via email to
[email address].
Ngā mihi
Jared Mullen
Director Digital Safety
