Decision not to provide information to Today FM or Mediaworks
New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties made this Official Information request to Pharmaceutical Management Agency
The request was refused by Pharmaceutical Management Agency.
From: New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
Dear Pharmaceutical Management Agency,
This is a request under the Official Information Act.
In this article dated 5 December 2022 (https://www.todayfm.co.nz/home/opinion/2...), the following passage appears:
"On Friday, the CEO of Pharmac, Sarah Fitt, emailed my boss, Cam Wallace, the Mediaworks CEO and instructed him that Pharmac had issued a ban on Today FM and all MediaWorks stations with immediate effect.
She wrote, “Pharmac will not be providing information, nor interviews, to Today FM, or any other MediaWorks station, until we feel we can trust you again.”"
The decision by a government agency not to provide information or interviews to a media organisation is a matter of substantial public interest.
Please provide us with:
1) A copy of all emails (and any attachments) sent by any Pharmac employee or contractor or company hired by Pharmac to any person at Mediaworks from 1 December 2022 until the end of 12 December 2022.
2) A copy of the communications plan, and all advice provided to the CE of Pharmac, or to any other official working for Pharmac, or to any communications/public relations company, relating to the communications plan for the announcement of the decision to fund Trikafta.
3) A copy of all communications to and from the Minister of Health (or officials in his office) relating to the media/communications handling of the announcement of the decision to fund Trikafta. This includes, but is not limited to, communications about the planning of the announcement, and all communications after 1 December 2022 that refer to MediaWorks, Today FM, or any of its employees.
4) A copy of all advice provided to the CE of Pharmac, or to any other official working for Pharmac, or to any communications/public relations company, relating to the decision to not provide information or interviews to Today FM or any other MediaWorks station.
5) The criteria to be used by Pharmac in order to decide whether it can trust Today FM or any other MediaWorks station, or any other media organisation or individual journalist.
If any or all of the information falling within the scope of items (2) - (5) above was provided verbally, please make a written note of it and provide this to us. The Ombudsman is clear that the OIA applies to unrecorded information held by an organisation subject to the Act.
Under section 16 of the OIA, our preference is to receive this information in a text searchable file format, not an image-only PDF, attached to a reply sent to the email address from which this request was received.
Under section 19(a)(ii) of the OIA, if Pharmac decides to withhold any information when responding to this request, we further request that Pharmac provides us with the grounds in support of its reasons for withholding - in other words, an explanation of why it thinks the Act provides 'good reason' to depart from the section 5 principle of availability, and why it thinks the public interest in disclosure does not outweigh any reasons for withholding.
If you need to clarify any aspect of this request with us, please reply to the email address from which the request was received.
Yours faithfully,
New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
From: Web Enquiry
Pharmaceutical Management Agency
Thank you for emailing Pharmac enquiries.
* [1]View a list of all currently funded medicines (the Pharmaceutical
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Ngā mihi,
Pharmac Enquiries
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References
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From: Web Enquiry
Pharmaceutical Management Agency
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your email of 9 December 2022. Your request has been
received and logged.
Our reference number for your request is 2022-23-080.
As required under the Official Information Act (OIA) 1982, we will respond
to your request within 20 working days. You should receive a response on
or before 27 January 2023. Please note, this due date accounts for the
‘Summer holidays’ (25 December to 15 January) as defined in the Act. Use
the [1]official information calculators to estimate the maximum response
time for an official information request.
If a large amount of information has been requested, we may need to extend
this date (this is provided for in section 15A of the Act). We will advise
you if such an extension is necessary.
Ngā mihi
Melody Willis ([2]she/her) | Government Services Advisor
___________________________________________________________________
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac | PO Box 10 254 | Level 9, 40 Mercer
Street, Wellington
P: +64 4 460 4990 | [3]www.pharmac.govt.nz
show quoted sections
From: Web Enquiry
Pharmaceutical Management Agency
Kia ora,
Please find a response to your request attached to this email.
Kind regards,
Gendi McFadyen| Government Services Advisor
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac
PO Box 10-254, Wellington 6140 | Level 9, 40 Mercer Street, Wellington
6011
P: 0800 660 050 | [1]www.pharmac.govt.nz
From: Web Enquiry
Sent: Monday, 9 January 2023 11:45 am
To: New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
<[FOI #21376 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Decision not to provide
information to Today FM or Mediaworks
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your email of 9 December 2022. Your request has been
received and logged.
Our reference number for your request is 2022-23-080.
As required under the Official Information Act (OIA) 1982, we will respond
to your request within 20 working days. You should receive a response on
or before 27 January 2023. Please note, this due date accounts for the
‘Summer holidays’ (25 December to 15 January) as defined in the Act. Use
the [2]official information calculators to estimate the maximum response
time for an official information request.
If a large amount of information has been requested, we may need to extend
this date (this is provided for in section 15A of the Act). We will advise
you if such an extension is necessary.
Ngā mihi
Melody Willis ([3]she/her) | Government Services Advisor
___________________________________________________________________
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac | PO Box 10 254 | Level 9, 40 Mercer
Street, Wellington
P: +64 4 460 4990 | [4]www.pharmac.govt.nz
show quoted sections
From: Web Enquiry
Pharmaceutical Management Agency
Tēnā koe
Further to our previous communications, we have now published
[1]information about our communications approach for the Trikafta
consultation on our website.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any further enquiries.
Ngā mihi
Melody Willis ([2]she/her) | Government Services Advisor
___________________________________________________________________
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac | PO Box 10 254 | Level 9, 40 Mercer
Street, Wellington
P: +64 4 460 4990 | [3]www.pharmac.govt.nz
From: Web Enquiry
Sent: Tuesday, 24 January 2023 10:44 am
To: '[FOI #21376 email]'
<[FOI #21376 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Decision not to provide
information to Today FM or Mediaworks
Kia ora,
Please find a response to your request attached to this email.
Kind regards,
Gendi McFadyen| Government Services Advisor
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac
PO Box 10-254, Wellington 6140 | Level 9, 40 Mercer Street, Wellington
6011
P: 0800 660 050 | [4]www.pharmac.govt.nz
From: Web Enquiry
Sent: Monday, 9 January 2023 11:45 am
To: New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
<[5][FOI #21376 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Decision not to provide
information to Today FM or Mediaworks
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your email of 9 December 2022. Your request has been
received and logged.
Our reference number for your request is 2022-23-080.
As required under the Official Information Act (OIA) 1982, we will respond
to your request within 20 working days. You should receive a response on
or before 27 January 2023. Please note, this due date accounts for the
‘Summer holidays’ (25 December to 15 January) as defined in the Act. Use
the [6]official information calculators to estimate the maximum response
time for an official information request.
If a large amount of information has been requested, we may need to extend
this date (this is provided for in section 15A of the Act). We will advise
you if such an extension is necessary.
Ngā mihi
Melody Willis ([7]she/her) | Government Services Advisor
___________________________________________________________________
Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac | PO Box 10 254 | Level 9, 40 Mercer
Street, Wellington
P: +64 4 460 4990 | [8]www.pharmac.govt.nz
show quoted sections
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