OIAD-2260
05 September 2022
Ryan
[FYI request #20181 email] Tēnā koe
Thank you for your Official Information Act request to the Department of Conservation, received
on 08 August 2022. Your questions and our responses are listed below:
1. Please provide evidence and proof that the principal officers of Habitat Tuateawa
Incorporated have obtained consent from the landowners within their 'HTPCA' as
defined on their site maps, https://tuateawa.com/2022/08/ to administer poison.
Please find attached a copy of the permission letter provided to Habitat Tuateawa by
the Department. This is being released to you in part.
2. Please provide names of the individuals that have ultimately made the application to
poison and signed any consent agreements or similar with the Department of
Conservation or any of its third party affiliates or contractors for the proposed plan to
poison Tuateawa September 2022.
The information you have requested is declined under section 9(2)(a) to protect the
privacy of the applicants.
3. Please provide contract, agreement or similar showing the parties involved with the
consent application and any approvals given to poison Tuateawa in 2022 along with
evidence showing that all individuals named on the consent have the authority to
administer natural land of substance and deploy Cholecalciferol and Diphacinone.
Please find attached a copy of the Habitat Tuateawa Management Agreement. This is
being released to you in part.
4. Should the minister impose an immediate halt to this poisoning of forest land that has
direct run-off into private property given this notice confirms that I consider the actions
by Department of Conservation and it's third party affiliates to be a criminal nuisance
under section 200 of the Crimes Act 1961 and would the minister confirm that no
government funded agency or third party contractor or incorporation can legally
administer poison upon land without written informed consent of the surrounding land
owners who stand present in protection against the poisoning of our land?
The Department does not administer the Crimes Act 1961 legislation and these
queries should be directed to New Zealand Police.
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DOC-7126938
The Minister of Conservation wil not be imposing any restrictions on this group’s
activity. The particular work you are referring to - carried out by Habitat Tuateawa - is
not funded by the Department of Conservation.
Guidelines for predator control programmes of this kind can be accessed via the
Predator Free 2050 website
(Home - Predator Free 2050 Limited : Predator Free 2050
Limited (pf2050.co.nz). Permissions and consent aspects vary according to the
method of control. For Habitat Tuateawa to carry out this work consultation in line with
DOC permissions was undertaken. No adjacent land owner consent was required.
As noted above, I have decided to release the relevant parts of the documents of authority and
agreement, subject to information being withheld under one or more of the following sections of
the Official Information Act, as applicable:
• personal contact details of officials, under section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of
natural persons, including deceased people,
• personal contact details of staff, under section 9(2)(g)(ii) – to protect employees from
improper pressure or harassment.
Item Date
Document description
Decision
1
11 Aug 2022
DOC Permissions Habitat Tuateawa 2022
Released in part
2
15 Aug 2022
DOC / Habitat Tuateawa Management Agreement Released in part
In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of the
Official Information Act and determined there are no public interests which outweigh the grounds
for withholding.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and enclosed documents may be
published on the Department’s website.
If you wish to discuss this with the Department, please contact Nick Kelly, Operations Manager
on 0275406165 or by email [email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Dan Heinrich
Director Operations
Hauraki Waikato Taranaki
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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DOC-7126938
