50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
23 August 2023
Grace Haden
[FYI request #23603 email]
REF: OIA-13189
Dear Grace
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 26 July 2023 requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
By way of OIA please provide all documentation which gives a back ground to the creation of
the words Waka kotahi including consultation with the public with regards to the adoptation
of the maori name for a corown entity
Provide the legislative refences which create any legality to the words Waka Kotahi and
approvals from parliament for this creation showing who approved this and when
Please provide the costs of rebranding and trademark costs etc. associated to making Waka
Kotahi the main name as opposed to teh legal name coming first
Also provide documentation which show why the name was not tradmarked and the
consequences of any one regestering a company Waka Kotahi Ltd
I am particularly concerned that assigning undefined non legal terms to legal entities
whihc can confuse the public and potentialy opens the door for for fraudulent on the public
Please provide all documentation which show that consideration of a undefined name has
on accountability to the public .. frequently in news articles the statement is made that waka
Kotahi is doing this or that.. how can an undefined name act or hold assets .. please
provide any evidence you can that justifies the use of this undefined name
Regarding the parts of your request for:
-Background to our 2019 name change
-Consultation with the public
-Rebranding costs.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has previously published two responses to these questions in
2020, and these are available on our website at the following links:
•
www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/official-information-act/official-information-act-responses/non-
media-official-information-act-oia-responses/
•
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/About-us/docs/oia2-2020/oia-6648-response.pdf
•
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/About-us/docs/oia2-2020/oia-6760-response.pdf
I am therefore refusing these parts of your request under section 18(d) of the Act as the information is
publicly available.
In relation to the parts of your request seeking information about, and the costs of, the trade mark
process, I am advising you that Waka Kotahi is extending the 20 working days available to us to
respond to your request, as allowed for under section 15A of the Act. We need a further 10 working
days and wil respond to your request on, or before 6 September 2023.
We are extending the deadline because of the consultations required for Waka Kotahi to respond to
your request are such that a decision could not be made within 20 working days. It wil take us more
than 20 working days to thoroughly respond to these parts of your request.
However, I can confirm that Waka Kotahi has a trade mark on both our legal name and “Waka Kotahi
NZ Transport Agency”. These are available on the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office’s website.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse
parts of this request and extend other parts. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please contact Ministerial Services by email to
[NZTA request email]
Yours sincerely
James Sorensen
Manager Ministerial Services, Enterprise
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