Knowledge of potential criminal activity by government employees

Canterbury Victim made this Official Information request to Peeni Henare

Response to this request is long overdue. By law Peeni Henare should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.

From: Canterbury Victim

Dear Peeni Henare,

I am making requests for official information. These requests are being made on the grounds of public interest in relation to the matters of transparency; participation; accountability; administration of justice; health, safety and the environment.

Please note that the requests are not just for documents, but also information. As such with regards to the Office of the Ombudsman guidance document “The OIA for Ministers and Agencies” these requests for official information include “information held in the memory of” the Minister addressed and only the Minister addressed, not the staff of the office of the Minister. As such unless there is a document which provides the information requested, the Minister must be questioned to provide the held information from their memory. No sections of this request can be denied based on Section 18(e) unless they are also denied on Section 18(g).

Each of the points below is an individual request for official information. If any of the responses need to be extended that should not impact delivery of responses for those that do not require an extension. Any decision to extend a deadline should be accompanied with a Section 23 response.

Any information that is denied should be accompanied with a Section 23 response providing the reasons for the decision to deny the information. These should include the dates and times that the Minister was questioned about their memory of the official information.

As per the Office of the Ombudsman guidance a clarification requested will only reset the deadline for the individual requests where a clarification is provided, the remainder of the requests for official information in this communication will have the original deadline remain.

Further in relation to the Office of the Ombudsman guidance “The agency’s primary legal obligation is to notify the requester of the decision on the request ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’. The reference to 20 working days is not the de facto goal but the absolute maximum (unless it is extended appropriately).” If the notification does happen on the last day of the 20 working day deadline please provide a Section 23 response as to why the decision was made that it was not ‘reasonably practicable’ to provide the decision sooner.

I am not providing a Privacy Waiver, and so any response to these requests for official information should have my personal information redacted.

These requests will make reference to official information held within the document located at https://bit.ly/3K29MME Despite their being other Ministers that may have official information with regards to the content of that document, this request for official information is about official information held by the Minister addressed and therefore should not be transferred and instead be denied if the information is not held by the addressed Minister.

1. When did the Minister first become aware of the document that exists at https://bit.ly/3K29MME? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of the document before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

2. The linked document includes official information where government employees at Southern Response have been altering documents and instructing others to alter documents they did not author in order to create a false representation of facts and timelines where those documents were then used to cause loss by deception. When did the Minister first become aware of these or similar events? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

3. The linked document includes official information where Southern Response employees conspired with a Consent Team Leader at Christchurch City Council to get agreement that a building consent would be granted despite the repair methodology did not match the submitted technical documents, was in violation of the MBIE repair guidance, and ultimately would result in a house repair that they knew had not been approved as meeting the Building Code. When did the Minister first become aware of these or similar events? This question is not limited to the example given in the linked document and can relate to any instance of this deceptive behaviour. If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

4. The linked document includes information regarding Southern Response committing a significant breach of the Fair Insurance Code (the accepted New Zealand Code of Ethics for the Insurance Industry) so significantly that the behaviour of the involved government employees would bring the entirety of the New Zealand Insurance Industry into disrepute. When did the Minister first become aware that government employees were responsible for the first ever unresolved significant breach of the Fair Insurance Code being referred to the Insurance Council of New Zealand? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

5. The linked document includes information regarding the Dispute Resolution Scheme (regulated by the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008) specifically not addressing matters of dishonesty in their assessment of behaviour of the government staff despite finding that Southern Response significantly breached the Fair Insurance Code. When did the Minister first become aware that the Dispute Resolution Scheme declined to consider dishonesty, when specifically asked to address matters of dishonesty in the details of the complaint, when assessing violations of the insurance industry Code of Ethics? This question is not limited to the example given in the linked document and can relate to any instance of this behaviour. If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

6. The linked document includes official information regarding the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) communicating with the CEO of Southern Response stating that the complaint of the behaviour of Southern Response had been heard at their last meeting despite us being told that it would not be heard at that meeting; and that had ICNZ not forced us to go through the Dispute Resolution Scheme that ICNZ would have found Southern Response in violation of the Code at that meeting, but instead ICNZ delayed the complaint of two cancer patients to allow Southern Response to be better prepared should the DIspute Resolution Scheme refer the complaint back to ICNZ. Southern Response then went on to utilise the law firm where a former partner, and consultant of that law firm is a sitting member of the ICNZ committee that assessed Southern Response’s behaviour. When did the Minister first become aware of these events? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

7. The linked document includes information regarding the Dispute Resolution Scheme finding that the Significant Breach of the Fair Insurance Code was unresolved despite the apology and ex gratia payment, but the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) stating that the complaint was resolved by the apology and ex gratia payment. This is despite direct communication between Southern Response and ICNZ where Anthony Honeybone states that the apology was not sincere and instead was simply easier than telling me how I was wrong about Southern Response’s behaviour. The linked document also addresses all parts of the Southern Response apology with official information to show that it was not sincere. When did the Minister first become aware of these events? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

8. The linked document includes information regarding government employees setting a one week deadline for me after I told them I was in hospital and needed to reduce stress. The deadline required me to provide engineering information because they would not accept their own engineering advice that their desired repair methodology was inappropriate. These actions have been described by the New Zealand Police as “seems inappropriate and appears to be taking advantage of your medical circumstances”. When did the Minister first become aware of these events? If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil the request.

9. Please provide the dates for each of these connected events if they happened with the Minister all for a single official information requestor within the last 6 months:

a. The Minister denied the existence of official information based on section 18(e)
b. The requestor provided evidence that documents do exist with the requested information
c. The Minister then stated that it was already known the documents existed, but that there was a desire to not provide the documents because they contain discussions that are too “full and frank” to be made public
d. The Minister then denied the request again based instead on 9(2)(ba)

If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this request for official information, then the please deny this request based on Section 18(e) and 18(g).

10. If request 9 is not denied then please provide the date at which the Minister was first informed that there was belief that those engaged with the Minister in the “full and frank” conversations may be committing crimes. If there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request. If the Minister has no recollection of becoming informed of criminal behaviour then please deny this request based on Section 18(e) and 18(g).

As I have a significant amount of additional information to make public in relation to these matters and an unknown number of request and response cycles in order to allow the matters of public interest to be adequately addressed, I would appreciate it if these requests were addressed as a matter of urgency.

Yours faithfully,

“Canterbury Victim”

Link to this

From: P Henare (MIN)
Peeni Henare



Tēnā koe,

Thank you for contacting the office of Hon Peeni Henare - MP for Tāmaki
Makaurau, Minister of Defence, Minister for Whānau Ora, Associate Minister
of Health, Associate Minister of Housing and Associate Minister of
Tourism.

While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not possible to provide
a personal response to every email received.

Where the Minister has portfolio responsibility for the issues that you
have raised, your correspondence will be considered and responded to where
appropriate.  If your email falls outside of these responsibilities, it
may be transferred to another office for consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to write.   

(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.)

Nāku noa, nā

Office of Hon Peeni Henare

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link to this

From: Hon Peeni Henare


Attachment image001.png
26K Download

Attachment image006.png
13K Download

Attachment image007.png
26K Download


Kia ora,

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act
request received 28 November, 2022. You have requested the following
information:

 

“1. When did the Minister first become aware of the document that exists
at [1]https://bit.ly/3K29MME? If there does not exist a document with this
information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will
fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware
of the document before receiving this request for official information,
then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil
the request.

 

2. The linked document includes official information where government
employees at Southern Response have been altering documents and
instructing others to alter documents they did not author in order to
create a false representation of facts and timelines where those documents
were then used to cause loss by deception.  When did the Minister first
become aware of these or similar events? If there does not exist a
document with this information then an approximate date from the
Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no
recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

3. The linked document includes official information where Southern
Response employees conspired with a Consent Team Leader at Christchurch
City Council to get agreement that a building consent would be granted
despite the repair methodology did not match the submitted technical
documents, was in violation of the MBIE repair guidance, and ultimately
would result in a house repair that they knew had not been approved as
meeting the Building Code.  When did the Minister first become aware of
these or similar events?  This question is not limited to the example
given in the linked document and can relate to any instance of this
deceptive behaviour.  If there does not exist a document with this
information then an approximate date from the Minister’s memory will
fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware
of such events before receiving this request for official information,
then the date the Minister was asked to recall their memory will fulfil
the request.

 

4. The linked document includes information regarding Southern Response
committing a significant breach of the Fair Insurance Code (the accepted
New Zealand Code of Ethics for the Insurance Industry) so significantly
that the behaviour of the involved government employees would bring the
entirety of the New Zealand Insurance Industry into disrepute.  When did
the Minister first become aware that government employees were responsible
for the first ever unresolved significant breach of the Fair Insurance
Code being referred to the Insurance Council of New Zealand? If there does
not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from
the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no
recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

5. The linked document includes information regarding the Dispute
Resolution Scheme (regulated by the Financial Service Providers
(Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008) specifically not
addressing matters of dishonesty in their assessment of behaviour of the
government staff despite finding that Southern Response significantly
breached the Fair Insurance Code.  When did the Minister first become
aware that the Dispute Resolution Scheme declined to consider dishonesty,
when specifically asked to address matters of dishonesty in the details of
the complaint, when assessing violations of the insurance industry Code of
Ethics?  This question is not limited to the example given in the linked
document and can relate to any instance of this behaviour.  If there does
not exist a document with this information then an approximate date from
the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no
recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

6. The linked document includes official information regarding the
Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) communicating with the CEO of
Southern Response stating that the complaint of the behaviour of Southern
Response had been heard at their last meeting despite us being told that
it would not be heard at that meeting; and that had ICNZ not forced us to
go through the Dispute Resolution Scheme that ICNZ would have found
Southern Response in violation of the Code at that meeting, but instead
ICNZ delayed the complaint of two cancer patients to allow Southern
Response to be better prepared should the DIspute Resolution Scheme refer
the complaint back to ICNZ.  Southern Response then went on to utilise the
law firm where a former partner, and consultant of that law firm is a
sitting member of the ICNZ committee that assessed Southern Response’s
behaviour. When did the Minister first become aware of these events?  If
there does not exist a document with this information then an approximate
date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister
has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

7. The linked document includes information regarding the Dispute
Resolution Scheme finding that the Significant Breach of the Fair
Insurance Code was unresolved despite the apology and ex gratia payment,
but the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) stating that the complaint
was resolved by the apology and ex gratia payment.  This is despite direct
communication between Southern Response and ICNZ where Anthony Honeybone
states that the apology was not sincere and instead was simply easier than
telling me how I was wrong about Southern Response’s behaviour.  The
linked document also addresses all parts of the Southern Response apology
with official information to show that it was not sincere. When did the
Minister first become aware of these events?  If there does not exist a
document with this information then an approximate date from the
Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no
recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

8. The linked document includes information regarding government employees
setting a one week deadline for me after I told them I was in hospital and
needed to reduce stress.  The deadline required me to provide engineering
information because they would not accept their own engineering advice
that their desired repair methodology was inappropriate.  These actions
have been described by the New Zealand Police as “seems inappropriate and
appears to be taking advantage of your medical circumstances”. When did
the Minister first become aware of these events?  If there does not exist
a document with this information then an approximate date from the
Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If the Minister has no
recollection of becoming aware of such events before receiving this
request for official information, then the date the Minister was asked to
recall their memory will fulfil the request.

 

9. Please provide the dates for each of these connected events if they
happened with the Minister all for a single official information requestor
within the last 6 months:

 

a. The Minister denied the existence of official information based on
section 18(e) b. The requestor provided evidence that documents do exist
with the requested information c. The Minister then stated that it was
already known the documents existed, but that there was a desire to not
provide the documents because they contain discussions that are too “full
and frank” to be made public d. The Minister then denied the request again
based instead on 9(2)(ba)

 

If there does not exist a document with this information then an
approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If
the Minister has no recollection of becoming aware of such events before
receiving this request for official information, then the please deny this
request based on Section 18(e) and 18(g).

 

10. If request 9 is not denied then please provide the date at which the
Minister was first informed that there was belief that those engaged with
the Minister in the “full and frank” conversations may be committing
crimes.  If there does not exist a document with this information then an
approximate date from the Minister’s memory will fulfil the request.  If
the Minister has no recollection of becoming informed of criminal
behaviour then please deny this request based on Section 18(e) and 18(g)."

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 16 January, 2023, being 20 working days after the
day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request
by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Kind regards,

 

Office of Hon Peeni Henare

Minister of Defence | Minister for Whānau Ora | Associate Minister of
Health (Māori)|

Associate Minister of Tourism | Associate Minister of Housing (Māori) | MP
for Tamaki Makaurau

Reception: 04 817 8721 | [2]www.labour.org.nz 

 

[3]cid:image001.png@01D37A2F.38BEB430

 

Email disclaimer:

Please note information about meetings related to the Minister’s
portfolios will be proactively released (this does not include personal or
constituency matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list:
date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the
meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the
Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will
be released. If you are a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet
with the Minister in your personal capacity, your name may also be
released. The location of the meeting will be released, unless it is a
private residence. The proactive release will be consistent with the
provisions in the Official Information Act, including privacy
considerations. Under the Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a
copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to
be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of
your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned about the
release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please contact the
sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy at
[4]https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

 

 

[5]cid:image001.png@01D3A731.28D218D0[6]cid:image002.png@01D3A731.28D218D0

 

 

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Hon Peeni Henare


Attachment image001.png
26K Download

Attachment image002.png
13K Download

Attachment image003.png
26K Download

Attachment OIA42525 Canterbury Victim.pdf
223K Download View as HTML


Kia ora,

 

On behalf of Hon Peeni Henare, please find attached a response to your OIA
request of 27 November, 2022.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Office of Hon Peeni Henare

Minister of Defence | Minister for Whānau Ora | Associate Minister of
Health (Māori)|

Associate Minister of Tourism | Associate Minister of Housing (Māori) | MP
for Tamaki Makaurau

Reception: 04 817 8721 | [1]www.labour.org.nz 

 

[2]cid:image001.png@01D37A2F.38BEB430

 

Email disclaimer:

Please note information about meetings related to the Minister’s
portfolios will be proactively released (this does not include personal or
constituency matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list:
date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the
meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the
Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will
be released. If you are a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet
with the Minister in your personal capacity, your name may also be
released. The location of the meeting will be released, unless it is a
private residence. The proactive release will be consistent with the
provisions in the Official Information Act, including privacy
considerations. Under the Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a
copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to
be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of
your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned about the
release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please contact the
sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy at
[3]https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

 

 

[4]cid:image001.png@01D3A731.28D218D0[5]cid:image002.png@01D3A731.28D218D0

 

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Canterbury Victim

Dear Hon Peeni Henare,

The Minister has not responded to each request for official information separately. At the beginning of the document I stated “Each of the points below is an individual request for official information,” and for each request I presented options for responses to limit the scope of the requests in a way that I felt would fulfil my requests. Please provide a Section 23 response for the decision to respond in such a way that did not allow for an understanding of the results of each decision made against the 10 requests for official information.

The Minister’s response refuses to provide official information. In the document I stated “Any information that is denied should be accompanied with a Section 23 response providing the reasons for the decision to deny the information.” Please provide a section 23 response for the decision to not include a section 23 response for each of the refusals of official information. Please also provide the Section 23 responses for the refusals themselves, as previously requested. Please see the Office of the Ombudsman document “Requests for reasons for a decision or recommendation A guide to section 23 of the OIA and section 22 of the LGOIMA“ for information on how to properly respond to a section 23 request.

The Minister’s response refuses to provide official information based on 18(e), but not 18(g). As I had requested both documents and information it is not a valid response to refuse the information based on 18(e) alone. Please provide a Section 23 response as to why the request for official information was not refused on the basis of both 18(e) and 18(g). Additionally, in the document “Information not held A guide to sections 18(e) and (g) of the OIA and sections 17(e) and (g) of the LGOIMA“ it is stated that “Agencies must consider consulting the requester before refusing a request under section 18(e).“ Please provide a Section 23 response regarding the decision to not consult me before refusing the requests under Section 18(e).

Yours sincerely,

“Canterbury Victim”

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Peeni Henare only: