8 March 2024
Ms Anderson
[FYI request #25618 email]
Dear Ms Anderson,
Thank you for your email of 3 February 2024 in which you request the following under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):
all correspondence that you or your office has received in your capacity as Minister of
Defence from the date of my last request (10 December 2023) to today, 3 February
2024 (correspondence meaning any emails and physical mail), relating to the below
subjects. Please provide separate numbers for correspondence in support of Palestine
vs those that are in support of Israel.
Subjects of interest:
-
Gaza
-
Palestine
-
Israel's actions towards Gaza/Palestine
-
Operations in the Red Sea, or against Yemeni Houthi rebels.
Regarding phone calls received by the Minister's office, is there a process by which
concerns relating to the Minister's portfolios are relayed to him? If there is, can you
please describe this?
On 9 February 2024, you clarified your request to be addressed to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. The due date for our response to your OIA request was reset to 8 March 2024
(section 15(1AA) of the OIA refers).
We wil need to extend the time limit for responding to you by 20 working days, to
9 April 2024. This is because responding to your request still necessitates review of a
large quantity of information, and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably
interfere with the operations of the Ministry (section 15A(1)(a) of the OIA refers).
However, if this process is completed before 9 April 2024, the response wil be sent to
you as soon as possible.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this
decision by contacti
ng www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely,
Jamie Allen
Private Secretary (Advisory/Media)