20 June 2024
Official Information Request No.8140013820
(Please quote this in any correspondence)
Erika Whitmore
[FYI request #26849 email]
Dear Erika
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
Re: Auckland Councils vaccination requirement
I refer to your email, which we received on 17 May 2024, requesting information about
Auckland Councils vaccination requirements.
Your questions and our responses have been set out below.
1.Was Covid 19 a disease reported to Worksafe by Auckland Council?
2.Did Covid 19 arise out of the nature of work at Auckland Council?
3.Is there or was there in the past, any genetic “gain of function” work taking place at
Auckland Council on corona viruses, or the nursing of corona virus patients?
4.The written authorisation from the Director General specifying persons at Auckland
Council who were authorised enforcement person(s) under section 18 (2) the Covid-19
Public Health Response Act 2020. Please provide the functions and powers that could
be carried out by the authorised enforcement person(s) and;
5.Number of exemptions issued to Auckland Council workers under clause 9 of the
Covid 19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021;
6.Any other exemptions issued to staff, please provide grounds and number issued
and;
7.In relation to covid 19 vaccines, any payment Auckland Council and/or its
subsidiaries received for each staff member that was vaccinated, the amount and the
scheme the payment was provided under and;
8.Any payment the Auckland Council and/or its subsidiaries received for leasing or
renting floor space for vaccination in 2021 and 2022 , eg super Saturdays events, the
Auckland CBD Vaccination Center at 35 Graham Street, eg space leased by Panuku the
amount and the scheme the payment was provided under.
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
1.Was Covid 19 a disease reported to Worksafe by Auckland Council?
No. The threshold for reporting il ness to WorkSafe NZ under the notifiable il ness criteria
was not met.
2.Did Covid 19 arise out of the nature of work at Auckland Council?
Whilst we had controls in place within our workplaces to prevent the spread of Covid-19, we
are unable to precisely determine whether COVID-19 infections that occurred in the
timeframe identified were the result of exposure within the workplace, or outside of their work
role due to limitations in contact tracing capacity.
3.Is there or was there in the past, any genetic “gain of function” work taking place at
Auckland Council on corona viruses, or the nursing of corona virus patients?
No, there has been no gain of function work being undertaken by Auckland Council at any
time.
Please provide:
4.The written authorisation from the Director General specifying persons at Auckland
Council who were authorised enforcement person(s) under section 18 (2) the Covid-19
Public Health Response Act 2020. Please provide the functions and powers that could
be carried out by the authorised enforcement person(s) and;
Auckland Council is not listed as one of the relevant agencies in section 18 of the Covid-19
Public Health Response Act 2020 and we do not hold any relevant information.
5.Number of exemptions issued to Auckland Council workers under clause 9 of the
Covid 19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021;
In accordance with our Privacy Act 1993 obligations which set out how agencies collect, use,
disclose, store and give access to personal information, Auckland Council made the decision
to purge all vaccine related information from employee files because the information was no
longer required for the purposes for which it was collected and used. As at the date of your
request, some information about employee vaccination had been identified in our
payroll/employee financial information, which has since been purged. It did not include any
information about exemptions. This request is therefore under s 17(e) of the Local
Government (Official Information and Meetings) Act 1987 refused as the information does
not exist.
7.In relation to covid 19 vaccines, any payment Auckland Council and/or its
subsidiaries received for each staff member that was vaccinated, the amount and the
scheme the payment was provided under and;
No payment was received by Auckland Council for the COVID-19 vaccination of staff.
8. Any payment the Auckland Council and/or its subsidiaries received for leasing or
renting floor space for vaccination in 2021 and 2022 , eg super Saturdays events, the
Auckland CBD Vaccination Center at 35 Graham Street, eg space leased by Panuku
the amount and the scheme the payment was provided under.
Auckland Council sub-leased two of its Corporate Office properties to the Auckland District
Health Board (ADHB) for purpose of Covid vaccination centres. Those buildings were:
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
1. 27th September 2021 to 31st December 2021: A portion of the ground level of
council’s Pacific Building at 50 Centreway Road in Orewa.
2. 6th September 2021 to 25th December 2021: A portion of the ground level of
council’s 35 Graham Street building located in Auckland City CBD.
Payments received from the ADHB totalled $127,580 plus GST.
Auckland Transport provided carparks for Covid Testing at the Manurewa, Mangere and
Otara Carparks. These carparks were provided free of charge and no payment was received
for their use.
The decision by Auckland Council to release the information contained in this response was
made by
Pauline d’Unienville, General Manager People and Culture.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of this response by the Ombudsman.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you have any questions please contact me at
[email address] or
contact me on 09 301 0101, quoting LGOIMA No. 8140013820.
Ngā mihi
Elaine Tunai-Po
Privacy & Official Information Business Partner
Governance Services
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
