OIAD-750
Debbie Leota
[FYI request #23863 email]
Tēnā koe Debbie Leota
Thank you for your email of 16 August 2023 requesting the fol owing under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act):
I made an OIA request (your handle OIAD-662) in May 2023 which MfE responded to after 60
working days (20 working days plus a 40 working day extension). MfE stated in its reply: "I can
assure you that the Ministry asks each supplier undertaking contract work with us to declare
any conflict of interest in providing goods and/or services or entering into a contract with us.
The Ministry informs all suppliers that they must do their best to avoid situations that may
lead to conflicts of interest arising. Suppliers must inform the Ministry immediately if any
conflicts of interest arise."
Please provide copies of all correspondence, documents, reports that:
1. MfE generated and, received from third parties, in responding to the OIAD-662 to evidence
that assurance; and
2. outline MfE's policies and information about what constitutes a conflict of interest, that was
provided to those contractors and consultants in order for them to make a proper declaration
of a conflict of interest.
I would also be grateful if you could provide all relevant emails and documents that contain
MfE's reasons that 60 working days were required to respond to that request.
On 13 September 2023 the Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry) provided a response to the
third part of your request and extended the timeframe to make a decision on parts one and two to
29 September 2023. The Ministry’s response to these parts of your request is outlined below.
The Ministry has identified 14 documents in scope of your request as listed in the attached table.
Some information within these documents has been removed as it is out of scope of the request or
withheld under the fol owing sections of the Act:
9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of natural persons
9(2)(b)(ii) as disclosure would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of
the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information
In terms of section 9(1) of the Act, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the withholding of this
information is not outweighed by other considerations that render it desirable to make the
information available in the public interest.
You wil note in documents 2.1 and 2.2 that the supplier raised a potential perceived conflict of
interest in their declaration. At the time of this declaration it was determined no action was required
as the potential perceived conflict of interest did not meet the risk threshold. Due to the small
number of subject matter experts in this area in New Zealand, it is not unexpected that consultants
in this space would have done previous work for other geothermal entities. As the consultant in this
case was providing technical expertise and the responsibility for final decisions on any regulations or
legislation remained with the Ministry, no action was considered necessary on the potential conflict
raised by the supplier.
As our previous response to you stated that no supplier raised a conflict of interest, this potential
perceived conflict should have been noted in that response. I apologise for this omission which was
due to an administrative oversight. As outlined above, while the supplier raised it as a potential
conflict it was not considered a conflict of interest at the time.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Office of the Ombudsman of my
decision to withhold information relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act.
The relevant details can be found on their website at
: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Please note that due to the public interest in our work the Ministry for the Environment publishes
responses to requests for official information on our
OIA responses page shortly after the response
has been sent. If you have any queries about this, please feel free to contact our Ministerial Services
team
: [email address].
Yours sincerely
Electronically approved by James Coombes
James Coombes
Acting Director Markets Climate Group
Document schedule
No. Project description
Supplier
Documents
OIA grounds
applied
1 Contractor for data and
Resource
1.1 AoG Consultancy Services Order
9(2)(a)
evidence lead NZ ETS review Economics/Tim
9(2)(b)(ii)
Denne
2 Geothermal Regulations
Geokem/ Kevin 2.1 Email chain RE: Emissions Trading 9(2)(a)
Update
Brown
Scheme – Regulations for 2023
9(2)(b)(ii)
2.2 Contract and Conflict of Interest
Declaration
3 Modelling of ETS impacts on Sam Harvey
3.1 Email Chain RE Quick question on 9(2)(a)
the electricity market
EAF work
9(2)(b)(ii)
3.2 Contract
4 NZ ETS Market Governance Strata Energy
4.1 AoG Consultancy Services Order
9(2)(a)
Consulting
4.2 Email Chain RE Proposal to amend 9(2)(b)(ii)
Limited/ Daniel Daniel’s CSO with MfE
Tulloch
5 ETS Markets Governance
Strata Energy
5.1 External Conflicts of Interest
Released in full
Consulting
Declaration
Limited / Daniel
Tulloch, Philip
Beardmore, and
Ivan Diaz-Rainey
6 Defining problem re forestry Resource
6.1 MfE Contract Accountability
9(2)(a)
in NZ Emissions Trading
Economics / Tim Statement and Contract
scheme
Denne
7 Member of IA review TAG
Resource
7.1 MfE Contract Accountability
9(2)(a)
Economics / Tim Statement and Contract
Denne
8 Member of IA review TAG
Niven Winchester 8.1 MfE Contract Accountability
Release in full
(trading as an
Statement and Contract
individual)
9 Member of IA review TAG
Ivan Diaz-Rainey 9.1 MfE Contract Accountability
Release in full
(trading as an
Statement and Contract
individual)
10 Member of IA review TAG
Firecone Limited / 10.1 MfE Contract Accountability
9(2)(a)
Andrew Sweet
Statement and Contract
11 Member of Industrial
Frazer Lindstrom 11.1 MfE Contract Accountability
Release in full
Allocation Review Technical Limited /Stuart Statement and Contract
Advisory Group
Frazer
