Francesca Albanese visit

Andrew Riddell made this Official Information request to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

The request was refused by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

From: Andrew Riddell

Dear Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,

In November 2023 UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese visited Aotearoa.

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings subsequent to her visit.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Riddell

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From: ENQUIRIES
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[UNCLASSIFIED]

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From: ENQUIRIES
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[UNCLASSIFIED]

Kia ora Andrew Riddell

Thank you for your OIA request received on 2 April 2024 for:
In November 2023 UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese visited Aotearoa.

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings subsequent to her visit.
This email confirms receipt of your request and advises that we will respond to it as soon as reasonably practicable, and in terms of the timeframes and requirements of the OIA.

Please note that our response letter to you (with your personal details redacted), and any enclosed documents, may be published on the Ministry’s website.

Ngâ mihi

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatû Aorere

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Riddell <[FOI #26287 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2024 8:41 pm
To: ENQUIRIES <[MFAT request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Francesca Albanese visit

Dear Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,

In November 2023 UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese visited Aotearoa.

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings subsequent to her visit.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Riddell

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #26287 email]

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https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
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If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

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"The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the Ministry. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information in it. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately."

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From: ESD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tēnā koe Andrew Riddell,

 

Thank you for your email of 13 March 2023 in which you request the
following under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):

 

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca
Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of
meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing
notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

 

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister
or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the
messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide
copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to
briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings
subsequent to her visit.

 

This email is to advise that we will need to extend the time limit for
responding to you by 25 working days, to 5 June 2024. This is because:

·         consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are
such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original
time frame (section 15A(1)(b) of the OIA refers);

·         responding to your request 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 5 June 2024, the response
will be sent to you as soon as possible.

 

We also wish to advise that 214 emails have been identified in addition to
the briefings, meeting notes, reports, etc in scope of your request which
would add to the time needed to evaluate. Therefore, with your permission,
the Ministry would like to rescope your request to exclude these emails.
Please can you let us know if you are comfortable with this proposed
rescope.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

 

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The information contained in this email message is intended only for the
addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the
Ministry. It may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this message or
the information in it as this may be unlawful. If you have received this
message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately."

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From: Andrew Riddell

Dear ESD,

I do not agree to limiting my information request by excluding emails.

As a general comment, I am seeing a disturbing pattern of delay and minimisation in the way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade processes information requests.

Nga mihi,

Andrew Riddell

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From: Andrew Riddell

Dear ESD,

I have further reviewed your letter advising of a 25 working day delay in responding to my straight forward information request.

The reasons put forward for the delay include "consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time frame".

Please advise which organisations or persons external to the MInistry ofmForeign Affairs and Trade are being consulted, if any.

Thank you,

Andrew Riddell

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From: ESD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[UNCLASSIFIED]

Kia ora Andrew,

The Ministry is consulting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, amongst others, regarding the response to your request. However, if this process is completed before 5 June 2024, the response will be sent to you as soon as possible.

Ngaa mihi,

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Riddell <[FOI #26287 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 18 May 2024 7:08 pm
To: ESD <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - Francesca Albanese visit

Dear ESD,

I have further reviewed your letter advising of a 25 working day delay in responding to my straight forward information request.

The reasons put forward for the delay include "consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time frame".

Please advise which organisations or persons external to the MInistry ofmForeign Affairs and Trade are being consulted, if any.

Thank you,

Andrew Riddell

-----Original Message-----

[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tēnā koe Andrew Riddell,

Thank you for your email of 13 March 2023 in which you request the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings subsequent to her visit.

This email is to advise that we will need to extend the time limit for responding to you by 25 working days, to 5 June 2024. This is because:

· consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time frame (section 15A(1)(b) of the OIA refers);

· responding to your request 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 5 June 2024, the response will be sent to you as soon as possible.

We also wish to advise that 214 emails have been identified in addition to the briefings, meeting notes, reports, etc in scope of your request which would add to the time needed to evaluate. Therefore, with your permission, the Ministry would like to rescope your request to exclude these emails.
Please can you let us know if you are comfortable with this proposed rescope.

Ngā mihi,

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #26287 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the Ministry. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information in it. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately."

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From: ESD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade


Attachment OIA 29273 Andrew Riddell Response.pdf
219K Download View as HTML

Attachment OIA 29273 information for release REDACTED.pdf
905K Download View as HTML


[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tēnā koe Andrew Riddell,

On behalf of the Acting Secretary or Foreign Affairs and Trade, please see attached the response to your official information request.

Ngā mihi,

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Riddell <[FOI #26287 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 1 May 2024 3:55 pm
To: ESD <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - Francesca Albanese visit

Dear ESD,

I do not agree to limiting my information request by excluding emails.

As a general comment, I am seeing a disturbing pattern of delay and minimisation in the way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade processes information requests.

Nga mihi,

Andrew Riddell

-----Original Message-----

[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tēnā koe Andrew Riddell,

Thank you for your email of 13 March 2023 in which you request the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):

Did staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade meet Francesca Albanese during her visit? If so, on what date? Please provide a copy of meeting notes, including any formal agenda and minutes, emails, briefing notes and file notes and such like arising from this meeting.

Was any briefing - written or face to face - given to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister on the visit by Francesca Albanese and the messages she conveyed about the situation in Gaza? If so, please provide copies of such briefing notes and material. Note I am referring to briefings that may have been given during her visit and briefings subsequent to her visit.

This email is to advise that we will need to extend the time limit for responding to you by 25 working days, to 5 June 2024. This is because:

· consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time frame (section 15A(1)(b) of the OIA refers);

· responding to your request 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 5 June 2024, the response will be sent to you as soon as possible.

We also wish to advise that 214 emails have been identified in addition to the briefings, meeting notes, reports, etc in scope of your request which would add to the time needed to evaluate. Therefore, with your permission, the Ministry would like to rescope your request to exclude these emails.
Please can you let us know if you are comfortable with this proposed rescope.

Ngā mihi,

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #26287 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the Ministry. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information in it. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately."

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Andrew Riddell left an annotation ()

Essentially the request was refused because so much of it was redacted. There were a number of emails potentially within the ambit of the request but MFAT refused to review these to decide what to release because it reckoned that would be unduly onerous.

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