Kia ora Miguel Angel,
 
On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 3/03/2025 requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982, the following:
1. All conflict of interest declarations made by Melanie Mark-Shadbolt in
her roles at:
- BioHeritage National Science Challenge
- Ngā Rākau Taketake
- Te Tira Whakamātaki

2. All meeting minutes, emails, and internal correspondence discussing:
- Whether her conflicts of interest were declared and recorded.
- Any steps taken to manage or mitigate these conflicts.

3. A list of funding decisions in which Melanie Mark-Shadbolt was
involved, specifying:
- Total amount of funding allocated to Te Tira Whakamātaki or other
organizations she is affiliated with.
- Her role in the decision-making process for those grants.

4. Copies of financial audits or compliance reports assessing conflicts of
interest within these programs.
 
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no
later than 31/03/2025, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If you have any enquiries
regarding your request feel free to contact us via email to
[1][MBIE request email].
 
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Services
Strategy and Assurance
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]

Dear Miguel,

 

Please find attached a letter advising that your request has been
transferred to Manaaki Whenua.

 

Best regards,

 

Ministerial Services

Office of the Deputy Secretary | Labour, Science and Enterprise

MINISTRY OF BUSINESS INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT | HIKINA WHAKATUTUKI

15 Stout St, Wellington, New Zealand  | [1]www.mbie.govt.nz  

NZBN 9429000106078

[2]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/

Kia ora,

 

I refer to your official information request dated 3 March 2025 to
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) which was
transferred to Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research (MWLR) by the MBIE and
received on 17 March 2025. The information you have requested is enclosed.

If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact
[1][email address].

 

Ngâ mihi,

Dominique Orange ([2]she/her)

Junior Legal Advisor
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research
[3]www.landcareresearch.co.nz

[4][IMG]

 

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Kia ora,

 

I am writing to you because Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research (MWLR) has
received an Official Information Act (OIA) request for documents relating
to OIA requests made to MWLR about Te Tira Whakamātaki Limited and the
Oranga project from 1 January 2024 and our responses.

We are consulting you on this request because some of the information at
issue relates to OIA requests that you made, including the request itself
and our response. 

 

What is the OIA?

The OIA enables people to request official information held by government
agencies, including MWLR. MWLR must release the requested information
unless there is a good reason for withholding it.

 

The information at issue

The information at issue includes the attached documents, which should
already be in your possession.

 

Our initial views

We are obligated to release the information as requested. However, we
suggest that we maintain your privacy and withhold your personal
information from the material being provided to the requester under
section 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act, see the attached
documents.

 

Your views

We would appreciate your views about how disclosure of the information at
issue would affect your interests. It may be that you do not object to the
information being disclosed. However, if you have concerns about release
of the information, the more detail you can provide, the better. It is not
enough simply to object to disclosure.

With that in mind, please let us know:

o what information (if any), you are happy for us to release;
o what information you are most concerned about us releasing, and why;
o how release of that information is likely to affect your interests;
and
o any other information you think we should take into account before
making our decision.

 

Our decision

It is our responsibility to make the final decision on this request. We
will take your views into account in making that decision, but you cannot
veto release of the information. We will let you know the decision we end
up making.

Please provide your views by 4^th July 2025 to
[1][email address]. Please note that if we do not hear from you
by 4^th July 2025, we may assume you do not want to comment and proceed to
make our final decision based on the information before us.

 

If you want to discuss this OIA request, you can contact
[email address]

 

 

Ngā mihi,

Dominique Orange ([2]she/her)

Junior Legal Advisor
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research
[3]www.landcareresearch.co.nz

[4][IMG]

 

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