Thank you for contacting Hon. Penny Simmonds, Member of Parliament for
Invercargill, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Vocational
Education and Associate Minister for Social Development & Employment.
The Minister considers all correspondence important, however, as she
receives a large amount of correspondence, it is not always possible to
provide a personal response.
Please note the following guidelines:

* If you are an Invercargill constituent contacting the Minister about
an issue, then your email will be passed to her electorate office.
* Invitations and requests to meet with the Minister will be considered
and a staff member will be in touch with you in due course.
* Requests for official information will be managed in accordance with
provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include a
transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency.
* If your email falls outside of the Minister's portfolio
responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to multiple
Members of Parliament, then your opinion will be noted and your
correspondence may be transferred to another office, or there may be
no further response to you.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write; it is very much
appreciated.
The Office of Hon. Penny Simmonds
(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.)

Dear Bryony

 

Thank you for your email of 30 May in which you submitted an Official
Information Act request, which reads as follows:

 

Please supply the following information under the Official Information Act
(OIA): 

 

A copy of the letter sent to you by Mayor Tory Whanau of Wellington City
Council, and copies of each of the 38 letters sent by Wellington Arts
Organisations and Te Auaha graduates that accompanied the mayor’s letter
(39 letters total), sent to you in February 2025. These letters were sent
to express concerns over the proposed cuts of courses and possible closure
of the Whitireia & Weltec Te Kāhui Auaha campus in Dixon Street,
Wellington.

 

The Radio New Zealand article of 27 May 2025 mentions these letters and
can be found at this link:

[1]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

 

If you need any more information from me, please let me know as soon as
possible.

 

I understand that a decision on a request for information under the OIA
should be made within 20 working days of receiving that request.

 

Minister Simmonds is considering your request in accordance with the Act,
and you can expect a response by 1 July 2025.

 

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Penny Simmonds

Minister for the Environment | Minister for Vocational Education

Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment
MP for Invercargill
 

P: 04 817 6815

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

Authorised by Hon Penny Simmonds, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

 

Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by
replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.

 

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