PO Box 14001
Christchurch 8544
New Zealand
Telephone (+64 3) 358 5029
christchurchairport.co.nz
28 August 2023
Bettina Meyer
Email: [FYI request #23648 email]
Tēnā koe Ms Meyer
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982 (OIA) – REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION -
CHRISTCHURCH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIMITED (CIAL)
1.
We write further to our email of 2 August 2023, acknowledging receipt of your OIA
request of 31 July 2023 seeking the following information (if held by CIAL) in relation
to the proposed Central Otago airport project:
Request: Received 31 July – The team working on the proposed Central Otago
Airport
Please share with me a list of all consultants, designers, contractors, and advisers
working on the proposed Tarras airport, their scope of work and list of outputs.
Please share with me a list of the employee (not names, just by position or role) time
spent on the Central Otago Airport project from 2017 to date, and the related hours
(both number and cost to CIAL) of that internal resource. This includes all project, legal,
communications, executive and other staff member time. If you cannot break this
down accurately (which would be quite surprising and concerning), please say so, and
provide close approximations.
As above, but the projected hours from today’s date for the next three years.
2.
CIAL will provide you with the requested information where it is able. However, you
will note within this letter that it is occasionally unable to release requested
information if it would prejudice or disadvantage CIAL’s commercial activities. Before
we answer your specific queries, it may be helpful to provide some context to this.
3.
The OIA permits an organisation to refuse to release requested information it holds if
the withholding of such information is necessary to enable the organisation to carry
out its commercial activities or negotiations without prejudice or disadvantage (s 9(i)
and s9(j) OIA) provided that such withholding is not outweighed in the circumstances
by the public interest in making the specific information available. For example, while
it may be in the public interest to understand that CIAL is investigating the feasibility
of establishing an airport in Central Otago that does not mean CIAL must share every
detail of its analysis, work or negotiations within specific work streams.
4.
At present CIAL is under no legal obligation to consult in relation to the Project. To
assist public understanding of the context of the Project and CIAL’s decisions, CIAL
has committed to, and does, proactively publish information as it completes pieces of
work which is likely to be in the public interest to receive on its dedicated Project web-
site at
https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/. Until work is completed, it is not
capable of being released. Over time this will see more information voluntarily
released. In such instances the public interest test will have been considered and
weighed up as part of the decision whether to release information or not. Equally,
each OIA query CIAL receives will be assessed on a case by case basis given the
particular given facts and circumstances at play at that time.
5.
CIAL is a council-controlled trading organisation that has been specifically established
to operate and manage its business as an independent commercial undertaking for
the purposes of making a profit, and to follow generally accepted commercial practices
and disciplines. CIAL is not a public body collecting and spending public funds. It
operates as a wholly commercial, standalone entity. Due to the size and scale of those
activities it is one of only three major airports in New Zealand regulated under Part 4
of the Commerce Act.
6.
As an airport CIAL has a further overriding obligation under the Airport Authorities Act
to act as a commercial undertaking. It does so in a commercially competitive
environment both domestically and internationally, where its competitors are not
under corresponding disclosure requirements. The proposed Central Otago airport
project is a complex commercial activity, acknowledged as being in competition with
the interests of other airports within New Zealand.
7.
In respect of your request, we respond as follows:
Request:
“a list of all consultants, designers, contractors, and advisers working on the
proposed Tarras airport, their scope of work and list of outputs.”
The Project is in the process of obtaining and analysing information related to the
Project, which is a complex commercial activity. The disclosure of the identity of
consultants and experts engaged by CIAL, or who may have been approached by, or
approached CIAL, but are not engaged is information that may impact on CIAL’s ability
to carry out its commercial activities in relation to the Project without disadvantage.
As it completes and publishes pieces of work as described above, it will revisit the
public interest in releasing the requested information as it relates to that piece of
work. Accordingly, at this time, this information is withheld under Section 9(2)(i) of
the OIA.
“a list of the employee (not names, just by position or role) time spent on the
Central Otago Airport project from 2017 to date, and the related hours (both
number and cost to CIAL) of that internal resource. This includes all project, legal,
communications, executive and other staff member time. If you cannot break this
down accurately (which would be quite surprising and concerning), please say so,
and provide close approximations.”
In addition to the external advisers and consultants already mentioned, we have a
dedicated Project Team at CIAL consisting of 2 individuals working predominantly full
time on this Project. We do not hold a record of exact hours attributable to this Project
however.
“As above, but the projected hours from today’s date for the next three years.”
8.
No such specific projections of the type and tenure requested exist. There will be
many factors affecting the scope and resource requirements of this Project as it goes
through different stages. These are dealt with in CIAL’s general financial planning and
reporting processes and we are therefore unable to provide this information. In any
event, this is not financial information of the detail that would be disclosed, even if
such information existed.
9.
We trust we have answered your requests for information. If you require any further
information or we have in some way misinterpreted your requests, please let us know.
10.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the
decisions contained in this letter. Information about how to contact the Ombudsman
or make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone
0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
CIAL LEGAL TEAM
Email: [Christchurch International Airport Limited request email]
