John Luke
Ref: OIAD-4891
[FYI request #29996 email]
7 March 2025
Tēnā koe John
Thank you for your request to the Department of Conservation, received on 7 February 2025, in
which you asked for:
I noted most of your Conservation Board's meeting minutes are not up to date,
therefore I would like to request all the 2024 meeting minutes for all your Conservation
Boards. Just to give you an example, Auckland Conservation Board has 5 meeting for
2024, but only 3 meeting minutes uploaded.
https://ftp.doc.govt.nz/public/folder/v9wai2wxwkejqiosegah7q/auckland/2024-agendas/
Also, for Northland Conservation Board, only two meeting uploaded and I understand it
should be more than that for 2024.
https://ftp.doc.govt.nz/public/folder/Ol1JQauiAkKsJV90l36MEw/northland
I noticed from the available meeting minutes that associate reading materials are either
distributed prior to meetings or presented during them. I would like to request that
these documents be made available online. To help facilitate this, I am requesting all
reading materials for all the conservation board's 2024 meetings as part of this OIA.
There's no need to send them to me directly; simply uploading them to the portal will
allow everyone to access them. The reason I am requesting it is it would be difficult to
fully understand the context of the meeting minutes without viewing the related
materials or presentation documents.
We have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982. Conservation Boards
are statutory bodies established under the Conservation Act 1987, and under this framework,
and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA), are
responsible for keeping records of their meetings. We have followed up with each region’s
Conservation Board, to ensure they are fulfilling the obligations under LGOIMA, including
making meeting minutes publicly available in a timely manner once they have been confirmed.
Each board has confirmed that all approved minutes will be uploaded as soon as they are
finalised. The process for publishing minutes follows a formal procedure: draft minutes are
prepared after each meeting but cannot be considered official until they are reviewed and
approved at the next board meeting. This is to ensure accuracy and provide board members the
opportunity to confirm that the minutes correctly reflect the discussions and decisions made. If a
meeting does not reach a quorum (which is half of the board members), then the board may be
unable to approve the previous meeting minutes, causing further delays. Additionally, as some
boards meet more infrequently than others, the time between meetings can also affect when the
meeting minutes are finalised and published. While we acknowledge that not all the 2024
meeting minutes are currently available, each board has confirmed they will make a concerted
effort to publish documents more promptly following approval.
We also advise that for the Northland Conservation Board, they only held two formal meetings
in 2024 due to a lack of members for a large part of the year. New members were appointed at
the beginning of November 2024, and further appointments will be made in the round that is
currently underway.
Regarding the reading materials, such as presentations, reports, briefing papers – these are
provided to board members to assist in their discussions and decision making. Work is being
undertaken to collate these materials and, where possible, they will be made publicly available
also. As with the meeting minutes, there may be some delays in publication due to the
forementioned reasons. However, The Department and Conservation Boards are committed to
ensuring transparency and accessibility and appreciate your patience as we work through this.
Nāku noa, nā
Kelley Reeve
Director Governance and Government Services
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
