Printed from https://fyi.org.nz/request/27733-oia-request-for-information-and-documentation-supplied-to-your-office-by-the-electoral-commission-to-support-your-audits on November 04, 2025 13:21

OIA request for information and documentation supplied to your office by the Electoral Commission to support your audits.

D Watson made this Official Information request to Office of the Controller and Auditor-General

The request was refused by Office of the Controller and Auditor-General.

From: D Watson

Dear Office of the Controller and Auditor-General,

I note your review of the Electoral Commission.I am seeking to understand how the election was governed and managed. You point out in your findings that risk management and reporting leading into the election was insufficient. This tallies with responses I have received from the Electoral Commission though I have found that official information has been hard to obtain from them.
I am particularly interested in what detail (documentation etc.) you received from the Electoral Commission relating to the month prior to the election, the month of the election and the month after the election and anything related to the work carried out by the "General Election Delivery Taskforce".

I would also appreciate copies of any other information you recieved from the Electoral Commission - information that you have have already collated to support your report for example notes interviews, commentary, official docs etc.

Thank you for your time.
Yours faithfully,

D Watson

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From: enquiry

Kia ora,

Thank you for your email - this is to confirm it has been sent to the team best-placed to respond.

Kind regards
Mike

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From: enquiry

Tçnâ koe

 

We have received your request for disclosure of documents provided to the
Office of the Auditor-General by the Electoral Commission as part of work
on counting errors in the 2023 election.

 

For your information, due to the confidential nature of much of our work,
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) does not apply to our office.
Instead, the Public Audit Act 2001 [1]gives us discretion about what
information we release, given that most of our work and information is
subject to obligations of confidentiality.

 

The Electoral Commission was required to provide us with the information
we requested under the Public Audit Act 2001 (PAA). When we exercise our
statutory powers to require organisations to provide us with information,
we treat the information received as confidential, while our findings are
reported publicly.

 

The Ombudsman has accepted, “as a general proposition ,… that an agency’s
ability to discharge its functions effectively is in the public good.
Therefore, the future supply of information will be in the public interest
if it materially enhances the agency’s ability ‘to carry out its statutory
function or some other lawful public purpose.” ([2]Confidentiality: A
guide to section 9(2)(ba) of the OIA and section 7(2)(c) of the LGOIMA,
p13.)

 

We will therefore not be providing the information you requested.  If you
have concerns about not receiving an adequate response from the Electoral
Commission, you could raise this with the Ombudsman.

 

Ngâ mihi maioha

 

 

Enquiry mailbox
04 917 1500| [3][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[4]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [5]Twitter, [6]Facebook, [7]Linkedin,
and [8]Instagram

 

 

 

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Anyone:
Office of the Controller and Auditor-General only: