18 July 2022
Mohammed Khan
[FYI request #19704 email]
Tēnā koe Mohammed Khan
Thank you for your email of 19 June 2022 in which you request the following under the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA):
A request was made on May 16 for all communications and documents related to a
statement you made. https://fyi.org.nz/request/19356-nz-government-support-for-the-
murder-of-shireen-abu-akleh-and-the-attack-on-her-funeral#incoming-74343
A 'response' was not sent until two days after it was legally due, on the 16th on June (vs.
the 14th of June).
That 'response' was not responsive to the request, purporting to be a summary response
to the question, but not summarizing any of the communications that occurred, edits to the
original draft, etc, instead only stating that "A small number of emails were sent", which
was obvious without my making the request, or your expending taxpayer money on
obfuscating the response. I expect an actual response Monday, or I will be taking this
deliberate failure to respond to the original request up with the Ombudsman.
As a new, separate request, I am requesting all communications related to the handling of
the original OIA request, as copies of the documents in question in electronic form.
Attached is the document relevant to your request, some information is withheld under s9(2)(a) of
the OIA, to protect individuals’ privacy; and s9(2)(g)(ii) of the OIA, for the protection of Ministers,
members of organisations, officers, and employees from improper pressure or harassment.
I also wanted to extend my apologies for the delay in getting back to you on time for your original
OIA request. This was due to adminministrative reasons.
Where the information has been withheld under section 9 of the OIA, no public interest in releasing
the information has been identified that would override the reasons for withholding it.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision by
contactin
g www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa
Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Minita Take Aorere / Minister of Foreign Affairs
