31 January 2023
James
[FYI request #21413 email] Tēnā koe James
Thank you for your email of 13 December 2022 in which you request the following under the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA):
Total days you spent outside of Aotearoa, New Zealand in your capacity as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. Please list the individual trips and days associated with each trip, including if
you were accompanied by your husband on any of these trips. This period covers the year
beginning January 1st 2021 to December 9th 2022.
All Ministerial trips and appointments that your husband accompanied you to while performing
any of your Ministerial duties for any of your portfolios for the year beginning January 1st 2021
to December 9th 2022.
Please provide the date you were first made aware Topher Richwhite was stuck in Iran and
any communications related to this, including but not limited to texts, emails and phone calls.
Did you or your office have direct contact with Mr Richwhite of his family at any stage? If so,
only the dates are required not what was discussed.
Did any NZ govt employees, MFAT staff, travel into Iran at any stage to provide assistance
to Mr Richwhite? If so please provide details such as duration they were there etc.
Please list all the dates you or your office contacted or were contacted by Iran or its
representatives where Mr Richwhite was discussed. Just the dates are required, no other
information.
The date Mr Richwhite was granted permission and allowed to leave Iran. No other
information or details required.
I have answered your requests regarding my travel and Topher Richwhite in turn. Please see below
for my response regarding international travel.
Total days you spent outside of Aotearoa, New Zealand in your capacity as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. Please list the individual trips and days associated with each trip, including if
you were accompanied by your husband on any of these trips. This period covers the year
beginning January 1st 2021 to December 9th 2022.
Page 2 of 3
All Ministerial trips and appointments that your husband accompanied you to while performing
any of your Ministerial duties for any of your portfolios for the year beginning January 1st 2021
to December 9th 2022.
I have spent 69 days outside of Aotearoa New Zealand in my role as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
My husband has not accompanied me on any Ministerial trips, in Aotearoa New Zealand or
overseas, in an official capacity. He has attended occasional events with me in Aotearoa
New Zealand in his private capacity, with no costs incurred on his behalf by my Ministerial Office
or by any of the public sector agencies I am responsible for.
Please refer to the below table regarding my international trips and dates:
Trip
Dates
Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, United Arab 11 to 28 November 2021 (18 days)
Emirates, Qatar, United States of America and
Canada
France (Indo-Pacific Forum), United Kingdom, 19 February-2 March 2022 (12 days)
Switzerland (UN Human Rights Council)
Fiji
28-31 March 2022 (4 days)
Rwanda
(Commonwealth
Heads
of 19 – 28 June 2022 (10 days)
Government Meeting)
Fiji (Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting)
7 – 9 July 2022 (3 days)
Cambodia (ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting) 2 – 10 August (9 days)
and Malaysia
Niue and Tonga
15-19 August 2022 (5 days)
Papua New Guinea
5-8 September 2022 (4 days)
Cook Islands
12-15 October 2022 (4 days)
Regarding the second half of your request:
Please provide the date you were first made aware Topher Richwhite was stuck in Iran and
any communications related to this, including but not limited to texts, emails and phone calls.
Did you or your office have direct contact with Mr Richwhite of his family at any stage? If so,
only the dates are required not what was discussed.
Did any NZ govt employees, MFAT staff, travel into Iran at any stage to provide assistance
to Mr Richwhite? If so please provide details such as duration they were there etc.
Please list all the dates you or your office contacted or were contacted by Iran or its
representatives where Mr Richwhite was discussed. Just the dates are required, no other
information.
The date Mr Richwhite was granted permission and allowed to leave Iran. No other
information or details required.
Page 3 of 3
I am not able to provide details regarding Mr Richwhite or his family due to privacy reasons (section
9(2)(a) of the OIA refers). However I can provide the below information regarding this consular
case.
Significant Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) staff resources were devoted to this case
over a sustained period of time both in Wellington and in our Embassy in Tehran, with 26 MFAT
staff directly involved in the progress of this case from 11 July 2022, until the couple’s departure
from Iran on 26 October 2022. In addition, a small number of senior officials in MFAT, Ministerial
offices and in our overseas posts, had some involvement in the case.
I have supplied a summary of the consular case which provides a timeline of events, this is noted
as Annex 1 in the attachment. Attached as Annex 2 are summaries of five key documents (Section
16(1)(e) of the OIA refers) that were supplied to my office regarding this consular case.
All further details of this case are withheld under the following sections of the OIA:
6(a): to avoid prejudicing the security or defence of New Zealand or the international
relations of the New Zealand Government;
6(d): to avoid endangering the safety of any person; and
9(2)(a): to protect individuals’ privacy.
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
