OIAD-3004
15 June 2023
Stella Hart
[FYI request #22705 email] Tēnā koe Stella
Thank you for your Official Information Act (the ‘Act’) request to the Department of
Conservation (DOC), received on 06 May 2023 in which you asked for:
“In relation to any non-government resource consent application, made between 1
January 2010 and 31 December 2022, that DOC had active involvement in, such as
making submission or being a participant in any legal action or hearing, please
disclose the following:
1. All instances where a proposal in which the applicant would provide something
that has monetary value such as any funds, donations (“Property”) and where
DOC was a party to any negotiations or initiated the proposal. For clarity, all such
instances include whether an agreement was concluded or not.
2. Information on the quantum of value, the intended use of the Property, the
identities of named parties who could either manage or direct how any Property
was to be used.
3. The position taken by DOC to the application as expressed prior to any
agreement being proposed and the position taken post either a concluded
agreement or completion of the application.
4. The position held of the person on behalf of DOC who authorised:
a. Generation of each proposal, if by DOC
b. Acceptance of an agreed proposal.”
On 17 May 2023, you clarified (or refined) your request to include only resource consent
applications which were notified or limited notified, and where DOC made a submission and
was thereafter party to the process and any negotiations. You have also refined the request
to limit the value of property considered to a minimum of $125,000, and now seek the most
recent 25 such events within the date range originally sought.
Response
I regret to inform you that I am not able to provide you with the information you seek as
facilitating your request in its current form would be administratively challenging and have a
significant and unreasonable impact on our ability to carry out other key operations. In
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accordance with section 18(f) of the Act, your request is refused as information requested
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
It is also anticipated that a large amount of information sought is not held by the Department
but by other parties not subject to the Official Information Act.
We understand that refusals of this nature can be disappointing. If you are seeking
information about a specific resource consent case, or if general resource consent
information is still desired, we would encourage you to contact our team (email provided
below) for advice and guidance to ensure any subsequent request is lodged with appropriate
specificity to enable processing.
I have borne in mind sections 18A and 18B of the Official Information Act but concluded that
use of either provision would not assist in this case.
You are entitled to seek an investigation and review of my decision by writing to an
Ombudsman as provided by section 28(3) of the Official Information Act.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) may be published on the
Department’s website.
If you wish to discuss this with the Department, please contact Geoff Deavoll by email
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Steve Taylor
Director, Office of Regulatory Services
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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