Attorney-General v Leigh Cost
Liam made this Official Information request to Attorney-General
The request was successful.
From: Liam
Dear Attorney-General,
This is a request for information, made under the provisions of ss 4 and 5 of the Official Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following information;
1. The legal cost of Crown Law to carry out the entire Attorney-general v Leigh case, from it's beginning through to the Supreme Court.
Please CONFIRM receipt of this email to prevent unnecessary follow-up emails and extensions being 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
From: C Finlayson (MIN)
On behalf of Hon Christopher Finlayson, thank you for your email. Please
be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where
the Minister has portfolio responsibilities for the issues raised, a
response will be sent to you in due course.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your
email falls outside of his portfolio responsibilities, or expresses a
personal view, then your opinion will be noted and your correspondence may
be transferred to another office or there may be no further response to
you.
Kind Regards
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson
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From: C Finlayson (MIN)
Dear Mr Stoneley
Please find attached correspondence from Hon Christopher Finlayson's Office.
Kind Regards
Jamie Manley| Ministerial Secretary
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson QC | Parliament Buildings, Wellington
-----Original Message-----
From: Liam Stoneley [mailto:[OIA #2478 email]]
Sent: Saturday, 7 February 2015 12:43 a.m.
To: C Finlayson (MIN)
Subject: Official Information Act request - Attorney-General v Leigh Cost
Dear Attorney-General,
This is a request for information, made under the provisions of ss 4 and 5 of the Official Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following information;
1. The legal cost of Crown Law to carry out the entire Attorney-general v Leigh case, from it's beginning through to the Supreme Court.
Please CONFIRM receipt of this email to prevent unnecessary follow-up emails and extensions being requested.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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From: Liam
Dear C Finlayson (MIN),
Please advise what is the difference between the type of information I have requested and the type requested in the request below:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/1439-cost-of-...
The reason for my asking is that in the above request, you did NOT transfer it to Crown Law, but you have in my case. This will most likely result in a delay for my information due to Crown Law getting this request days into the 20 working day window.
I await your urgent response.
Yours sincerely,
Liam Stoneley
From: C Finlayson (MIN)
On behalf of Hon Christopher Finlayson, thank you for your email. Please
be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where
the Minister has portfolio responsibilities for the issues raised, a
response will be sent to you in due course.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your
email falls outside of his portfolio responsibilities, or expresses a
personal view, then your opinion will be noted and your correspondence may
be transferred to another office or there may be no further response to
you.
Kind Regards
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson
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From: OIA
Dear Mr Stoneley
We refer to your request to the Attorney-General for information under the
Official Information Act 1982 dated 7 February 2015. Your request was
transferred to the Crown Law Office for response on 11 February 2015.
You request the following information, “The legal cost of Crown Law to
carry out the entire Attorney-General v Leigh case, from its beginning
through to the Supreme Court.”
The total figure for costs relating to this proceeding (including legal
fees, disbursements and GST) was $150,466.41.
Yours sincerely
Crown Law Te Tari Ture o te Karauna
T: +64 4 472 1719
F: +64 4 473 3482
[1]www.crownlaw.govt.nz
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