Dear Correspondent  

 

Thank you for contacting Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Racing.  

 

The Deputy Prime Minister considers all correspondence important and
appreciates you taking the time to write.   

 

Please note that since the Deputy Prime Minister receives a large amount
of correspondence, it is not always possible to personally reply to all
emails. 

 

The following guidelines apply: 

 

·         Invitations and requests to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister
will be processed as soon as possible and a staff member will be in
contact with you in due course. 

·         Media queries will be responded to by a staff member. 

·         Requests for official information will be managed in accordance
with provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include
transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency. 

·         If your email falls outside of the Deputy Prime 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. 

·         If your correspondence is to the Minister as the Member of
Parliament or Party Leader of New Zealand First, this may be referred to
the New Zealand First Leader’s office. 

 

(If your invitation or meeting request is accepted - please note
information about meetings related to the Ministers’ portfolios will be
proactively released (this does not include personal or constituency
matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list: date, time
(start and finish), brief description, location, who the meeting was with,
and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the Minister on behalf of
an organisation, the name of the organisation will be released. If you are
a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet with the Minister in
your personal capacity, your name may also be released. The location of
the meeting will be released, unless it is a private residence. The
proactive release will be consistent with the provisions in the Official
Information Act, including privacy considerations. Under the Privacy Act
1993 you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we
hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is
wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it
corrected, or are concerned about the release of your information in the
meeting disclosure, please contact the sender. You can read more about the
proactive release policy at
[1]https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas... ) 

 

(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.) 

 

Regards 

 

The Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

Dear Carole,

 

I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request dated
18 June 2025, in which you requested the following:

 

“In light of New Zealand’s recent sanctions against two Israeli diplomats
for their alleged violent rhetoric, I’m clarity on whether New Zealand
will apply the same standard to South African politicians who have openly
called for the killing of white people in South Africa. These inflammatory
statements, which incite racial violence, are well-documented and pose a
severe threat to human rights and stability. Will New Zealand sanction
these individuals, or is the policy on violent rhetoric selectively
enforced? I expect a clear explanation of whether New Zealand has a
consistent approach to addressing such dangerous rhetoric globally, or if
certain cases are conveniently ignored.

 

Additionally, I request all correspondence received by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Trade and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, concerning New Zealand’s response to or engagement with the issue
of violence in South Africa. I understand the private information of
correspondents will be redacted under section 9(2)(a) of the Official
Information Act 1982, but I see no reason for the correspondence to be
withheld.

 

I also want all internal correspondence between Ministry officials
discussing responses to this correspondence, as well as all draft versions
of any response letters prepared, if any.”

 

We received your request on 18 June 2025. We will endeavour to respond to
your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 17 July
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 queries, please feel free to contact our office. If any
additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.

 

Kind Regards,

Private Secretary

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs |

Minister for Racing |

Minister for Rail

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

 

 

Dear Carole,

 

We are writing regarding your OIA below, to advise that responding to the
second part of your request—specifically:

 

“Additionally, I request all correspondence received by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Trade and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, concerning New Zealand’s response to or engagement with the issue
of violence in South Africa…”

 

—would require review of a significant amount of material and is likely to
involve substantial collation and research. As such, this part of your
request may be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, this is because the
format correspondence is recorded does not allow for topic-based searches,
such as your original request would require.

 

Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement to refine this part of your
request to be for:

 

Advice provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Office
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding alleged white genocide in
South Africa since 1 May 2025.

 

Please note that clarification or amendment of a request is considered a
new request for the purposes of calculating the maximum statutory
timeframe for response (section 15(1AA) of the OIA refers).

 

Please confirm if you are happy to proceed with the refined request above,
by 30 June 5pm. If we do not hear from you, we will proceed with your
original request.

 

Kind regards

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

[1]A blue and Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters
white emblem
Description Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing
automatically |Minister for Rail
  generated
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
6160, New Zealand

Website: [2]www.Beehive.govt.nz
 

The information contained in this email is privileged and confidential and
intended for the addressee only.  If you are not the intended recipient,
you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not disclose, copy or
make use of its contents.  If received in error, you are asked to destroy
this email and contact the sender immediately.  Your assistance is
appreciated.

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Carole <[3][FOI #31341 email]>

Sent: Wednesday, 18 June 2025 12:59 PM

To: Winston Peters (MIN) <[4][email address]>

Subject: Official Information request - New Zealand's sanctions policy on
Israel and South Africa

 

Dear Winston,

 

In light of New Zealand’s recent sanctions against two Israeli diplomats
for their alleged violent rhetoric, I'm clarity on whether New Zealand
will apply the same standard to South African politicians who have openly
called for the killing of white people in South Africa. These inflammatory
statements, which incite racial violence, are well-documented and pose a
severe threat to human rights and stability. Will New Zealand sanction
these individuals, or is the policy on violent rhetoric selectively
enforced? I expect a clear explanation of whether New Zealand has a
consistent approach to addressing such dangerous rhetoric globally, or if
certain cases are conveniently ignored.

 

Additionally, I request all correspondence received by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Trade and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, concerning New Zealand’s response to or engagement with the issue
of violence in South Africa. I understand that private information of
correspondents will be redacted under section 9(2)(a) of the Official
Information Act 1982, but I see no reason for the correspondence to be
withheld.

 

I also want all internal correspondence between Ministry officials
discussing responses to this correspondence, as well as all draft versions
of any response letters prepared, if any.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Carole

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[5][FOI #31341 email]

 

Is [6][Winston Peters request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Winston Peters? If so, please contact us using
this form:

[7]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
2. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/
3. mailto:[FOI #31341 email]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[FOI #31341 email]
6. mailto:[Winston Peters request email]
7. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/fyi.o...
8. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/fyi.o...

hide quoted sections

Dear Correspondent

Thank you for contacting Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Minister for Racing and Minister for Rail.

Minister Peters considers all correspondence important and appreciates you
taking the time to write.

Please note that since Minister Peters receives a large amount of
correspondence, it is not always possible to personally reply to all
emails.

The following guidelines apply:

· Invitations and requests to meet with Minister Peters will be processed
as soon as possible and a staff member will be in contact with you in due
course.

· Media queries will be responded to by a staff member.

· Requests for official information will be managed in accordance with
provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include
transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency.

· If your email falls outside of Minister's Peters 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.

· If your correspondence is to the Minister as the Member of Parliament or
Party Leader of New Zealand First, this may be referred to the New Zealand
First Leader’s office.

(If your invitation or meeting request is accepted - please note
information about meetings related to the Ministers’ portfolios will be
proactively released (this does not include personal or constituency
matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would
list: date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the
meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the
Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will
be released. If you are a senior staff
member at an organisation, or meet with the Minister in your personal
capacity, your name may also be released. The location of the meeting will
be released, unless it is a private residence. The proactive release will
be consistent with the provisions in
the Official Information Act, including privacy considerations. Under the
Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal
information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you
think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask
for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned
about the release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please
contact the sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy
at https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...
)

(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.)

Regards

The Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

Dear Carole

 

Thank you for your response, we will proceed with your refined request for
information.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

[1]A blue and Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters
white emblem
Description Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing
automatically |Minister for Rail
  generated
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
6160, New Zealand

Website: [2]www.Beehive.govt.nz
 

The information contained in this email is privileged and confidential and
intended for the addressee only.  If you are not the intended recipient,
you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not disclose, copy or
make use of its contents.  If received in error, you are asked to destroy
this email and contact the sender immediately.  Your assistance is
appreciated.

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Carole <[3][FOI #31341 email]>

Sent: Thursday, 26 June 2025 4:58 PM

To: Winston Peters (MIN) <[4][email address]>

Subject: RE: Official Information request - New Zealand's sanctions policy
on Israel and South Africa

 

Dear Winston Peters (MIN),

 

I'd be happy to clarify my request to the following:

 

Advice provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Office
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding threats of violence against
ethnic minorities by South African political figures, since 1 January
2024.

 

Please let me know if this will result in an 18(f) refusal, I'd be happy
to reconsider the wording of the request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Carole

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Carole,

 

 

 

We are writing regarding your OIA below, to advise that responding to the 
second part of your request—specifically:

 

 

 

“Additionally, I request all correspondence received by the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade, concerning New Zealand’s response to or engagement with the issue 
of violence in South Africa…”

 

 

 

—would require review of a significant amount of material and is likely
to  involve substantial collation and research. As such, this part of
your  request may be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, this is
because the  format correspondence is recorded does not allow for
topic-based searches,  such as your original request would require.

 

 

 

Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement to refine this part of your 
request to be for:

 

 

 

Advice provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the
Office  of the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding alleged white
genocide in  South Africa since 1 May 2025.

 

 

 

Please note that clarification or amendment of a request is considered a 
new request for the purposes of calculating the maximum statutory 
timeframe for response (section 15(1AA) of the OIA refers).

 

 

 

Please confirm if you are happy to proceed with the refined request
above,  by 30 June 5pm. If we do not hear from you, we will proceed with
your  original request.

 

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

 

 

[1]A blue and Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters  white emblem  Description
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing  automatically |Minister
for Rail

  generated

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

 

Website:
[2][5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.B...

  

 

The information contained in this email is privileged and confidential
and  intended for the addressee only.  If you are not the intended
recipient,  you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not
disclose, copy or  make use of its contents.  If received in error, you
are asked to destroy  this email and contact the sender immediately.  Your
assistance is  appreciated.

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[6][FOI #31341 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
2. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/
3. mailto:[FOI #31341 email]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.Be...
6. mailto:[FOI #31341 email]
7. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/fyi.o...

hide quoted sections