TEL +64 4 473 0111
FAX +64 4 494 1263
Level 11,1 Grey Street, PO Box 25620, Wel ington 6140
New Zealand
16 October 2023
Erika Whit ome
[FYI request #24096 email]
By email
Our ref: F33349
Dear Erika
Response to your information request – COVID 19 information
I refer to your email of 11 September 2023 requesting under the Official Information Act 1982
(OIA):
“1. What budget was allocated for Covid 19 health and safety activities at Maritime
New Zealand for the 2021/2022 financial year? For example Covid advisors, Covid
risk specialist roles etc
2. How many exemptions were given under clause 9 of the COVID-19 Public Health
Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 (version as of 25 Oct 2021). I will copy and
paste from that clause:
Clause 9 Chief executive may authorise affected persons not vaccinated to carry out
certain work
(2) A chief executive may authorise an affected person who has not been vaccina‐
ted
to carry out certain work if the work—
(a) is unanticipated, necessary, and time-critical and cannot be carried out by a person
who is vaccinated; and
(b) must be carried out to prevent the ceasing of operations.
(3) An affected person who is authorised to carry out certain work under subclause
(2) may be authorised to re-enter as many times as is necessary to complete the
work.
(4) An affected person may enter any place without approval if they need to enter to
preserve or protect a person’s life, health, or safety in an emergency.
(5) In this clause, chief executive,—
(a) in relation to a worker at a managed isolation facility or a managed quar‐
antine
facility, means the chief executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and
Employment:
(b) in relation to a worker who is not a service worker and who works at an affected
port or on board an affected ship, means the Director of Mari‐
time New Zealand:
3 What designations did Maritime New Zealand receive under section 191 of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in order to act as a regulator for health and safety
matters?”
On 13 September 2023, we emailed to seek clarification of Part 1 of your request. You
responded on 18 September 2023, and clarified that your request is for any COVID-19
specific roles at Maritime NZ for the 2021/22 financial year (internally- and externally-
focused).
Maritime NZ provided significant externally-focused input to support the all-of-government
COVID-19 response. Our role was to provide expertise on various maritime matters, including
the reopening of the maritime border, ship isolation requirements and crew changes. This
work was led within Maritime NZ by its COVID-19 Response and Recovery Team. The total
cost of the roles in Maritime NZ’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery team for the 2021/22
financial year was $1,02m. Where possible, roles were filled by internal secondment within
Maritime NZ.
Maritime NZ managed its own internal organisational response to COVID-19 within its normal
health and safety and wider corporate functions (e.g. support for remote work). No additional
or dedicated roles were established to manage this aspect of our COVID-19 work.
In relation to Part 2 of your request, Maritime NZ did not grant any exemptions on medical
grounds under the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021.
In response to Part 3 of your request, under section 191 of the Health and Safety at Work Act
2015 (HSWA), Maritime NZ is a designated agency under the HSWA and may perform all the
functions and exercise all the powers of the regulator under HSWA in respect of:
(1) Work on board ships; and
(2) Ships as workplaces.
An extension to this designation will take effect from 1 July 2024 to cover:
(3) Work at major ports and at ports used in connection with the Cook Strait inter-island
ferries; and
(4) Major ports as workplaces and ports used in connection with the Cook Strait inter-
island ferries, as workplaces.
More information can be found here:
https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2023-go3992
Under section 28(3) of the (OIA), you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by cal ing 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Margee Do
Principal Advisor
Communications and Ministerial Services
Document Outline
