44 Bowen Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
13 February 2024
Richard Young
[FYI request #25118 email]
REF: OIA-14262
Dear Richard
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 10 December 2023 requesting the information pertaining to the rebranding
of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Each part of your request is addressed in turn below.
Please can you provide a copy of the written policy directive to deprioritise Waka Kothai as
your main name.
The Minister of Transport has requested NZTA plan to give effect to the National and New Zealand
First Coalition Agreement to ensure all public service departments have their primary name in English,
except for those related to Māori. We are awaiting written all-of-government guidance on using our
English name first.
As we have not yet received the written guidance, this part of your request is refused under section
18(e) of the Act as the document al eged to contain the information does not exist.
Please also provide al internal (non privileged) communications between your most senior
staff (CEO and direct reports and one further layer down) about any name priority change.
This part of your request is partial y refused under section 18(d) of the Act as the information
requested wil soon be publicly available.
For context, communications between the most senior staff members have been collated in response
to an earlier request for al correspondence regarding the NZTA rebrand. In line with NZTA’s proactive
release policy, this response wil soon be published online at:
www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/official-
information-act/official-information-act-responses/. The documents are stil being finalised for publication; however, they wil be available at the above
website link under the heading ‘
Name change correspondence’ within the next two weeks.
Please note that certain information in the content soon to be published has been withheld for the
following reasons:
• Section 9(2)(a) of the Act to protect the privacy of individuals.
• Section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free
and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an
organisation or officers and employees of any public service agency or organisation in the
course of their duty.
In addition to the information that wil soon be publicly available, additional documents have been
located that fall within the scope of your request. These are enclosed in the fol owing attachment:
• OIA-14262 – Attachment 1.pdf
Certain information within the enclosed documents has been withheld under both sections 9(2)(a) and
9(2)(g)(i) of the Act.
With respect to the information that has been withheld, I do not consider there are any other factors
which would render it desirable, in the public interest, to make the information available.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to both
refuse part of your request and withhold certain information. The contact details for the Ombudsman
can be located at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
As noted in our acknowledgement email of 11 December 2023, the information requested contains
names of NZTA staff. As we have not received a response as to whether the inclusion of names is
required, we have deemed these to be out of scope of your request, with the exception of Chief
Executive and members of the Executive Leadership Team as these are publicly available.
In line with NZTA policy, this response wil soon be published on our website, with personal
information removed.
If you would like to discuss this reply with NZTA, please contact Ministerial Services by email at
[NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Karen Jones
Group General Manager – Engagement and Partnerships
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