Dear Liam
On behalf of the Director-General of the Department of Conservation, I confirm receipt of your request for official information. Your request has been forwarded to the relevant business group for processing. You will receive a reply in accordance with the requirements of the Official Information Act 1982.
Yours sincerely
Alan Moran
for Director-General

Alan Moran
Ministerial Support Advisor (GSU)
Policy and Regulatory Services Kahui Manutataki
Department of Conservation–Te Papa Atawhai
DDI: + 64 4 471 3286| VPN:8286
Conservation for prosperity Tiakina te taiao, kia puawai 
www.doc.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Liam Stoneley [mailto:[OIA #2456 email]]
Sent: Sunday, 1 February 2015 3:10 p.m.
To: OIA
Subject: Official Information Act request - Queen Charlotte Track

Dear Department of Conservation,

This is a request for information, made under the provisions of ss4 and 5 of the Official Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following information;

1.What is the annual cost to upkeep the QC Track? Could you also please indicate if this has gone up over the past 5 years, and by how much;

2. What are the major contributors to that cost? This could be salaries, travel costs ect;

3. Is a helicopter ever used as part of maintaining the track? And if so, in the last 5 years, how many times has it been used, for what purpose and why any other mode of transport could not have been used?

4. Of the $18 ticket cost to use a portion of the track, how much is kept by DoC and how much is distributed to land owners? How many land owners get a share of the $18?

5. How often are Doc or other contractors monitoring track pass being shown/bought on the track? Does DoC have a work, say, once a week on the track over the summer to check if people have bought a pass?

Please CONFIRM receipt of this email to prevent unnecessary follow-up emails and extensions requested.
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As required by s12(1) of the Act, I am a New Zealand citizen. I will provide confirmation of this, if required. However, since all of our correspondence will be published on the FYI.org.nz site, I will only do so over the phone or email, with which you provide. This would only be for the purpose of citizenship confirmation, and nothing further related to this request.

As required by s12(3) of the Act, I shall provide reason(s) why this request should be treated as URGENT. The questions above raise important issues of accountability of the Government, its departments and agents. Any and all information provided as a result of this request could and may be published either by the writer online to a wide audience or passed onto media outlets for publication so that the public can be kept informed on important issues of transparency.

As required by s13(c) of the Act, if this request “has not been made … to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority”, it is your duty to give reasonable assistance to me to direct my request to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority.

Further to the above statutory requirement, under s14 of the Act, if the information I seek is either not held or you believe it is more closely connected with another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or of a local authority you shall promptly, and in any case not later than 10 working days after the day on which the request is received, transfer the request to the other department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or to that local authority, AND inform me accordingly.

As required under s15A of the Act, if you believe that a time extension is warranted for this request, you must under ss15A(2),(3) and (4) give notice to me of this extension within 20 working days after the day on which my request was received. In that notice, you should state; the period of the extension, give reasons for the extension and remind me of my right to complain to the Ombudsman under s28(3). Finally, the extension must be for a reasonable time, having regards to the circumstances.

As required by s18B of the Act, you must consider consulting me before refusing my request under the provisions of ss18(e) and (f) which relate to a document not being able to be found or existing or where substantial collation and research would be required for my current request.

As required by s19(a)(i), you must provide reasons if you refuse any parts of this request.

I will, if required, complain to the Ombudsman, as is my right under s28(3) of the Act, if any of the above statutory requirements on you are not complied with. Further to this, if your reply is not “as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received” as required under s15(1) of the Act, I will also complain to the Ombudsman.

This request is made through the site FYI.org.nz. All correspondence will be automatically forwarded to me through the site and published online immediately. I require, where appropriate, all electronic copies of all documents in your response. For more information on how the site works, please visit www.fyi.org.nz/help/about.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

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hide quoted sections

Good morning Mr Stoneley

 

Please find attached the response to your Official Information Request
dated 1 February with a number of questions related to the Queen Charlotte
Track.

 

I trust this is sufficient to satisfy your queries.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Allanah Turner

Personal Assistant — to Director - Conservation Services

Department of Conservation —Te Papa Atawhai

DDI:  +64 3 756 9110 | M: +64 27 478 9101

 

Conservation for prosperity Tiakina te taiao, kia puawai

 

www.doc.govt.nz

 

 

Caution - This message and accompanying data may contain information that
is confidential or subject to legal privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or
copying of this message or data is prohibited. If you received this email
in error, please notify us immediately and erase all copies of the message
and attachments. We apologise for the inconvenience. Thank you.