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8 July 2025
OIAD-1666
John Luke
[FYI request #31435 email]
Tēnā koe John
Thank you for your email of 29 June 2025 requesting the following under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the OIA) of the Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry):
I noted, https://jobs.govt.nz/jobs/NZ-MFTE00003
May I ask how you called for public nomination and on what platform you have call for
public nominations e.g. govt.jobs website. A copy of your ad as well. Also, how many
applications you have received from the public and how many you have received from
other nominating agencies such as TPK or Ministry of women etc for your role. How
many you have shortlisted and how many you have interviewed. Also, can I request to
view the appointment letter if there is one sent to the appointee. I am happy for you to
remove all the personal information.
I understand that you are referring to the recent call for nominations for Waste Advisory
Board (the Board) members. I have provided a reply to each part of your request below.
Call for public nominations
As per section 93(2) of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (the WMA)
:1
The Minister must request nominations for members of the Board, and allow 1 month to
receive nominations, by giving public notice—
(a) in the Gazette; and
(b) in daily newspapers circulating in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and
Dunedin; and
(c) on a website maintained by, or on behalf of, the Ministry for the Environment.
On 29 May 2025 the Ministry posted:
• a Gazette notic
e2 as per section 93(2)(a) of the WMA
• advertisements in the following newspapers as per section 93(2)(b) of the WMA:
o Christchurch Press
o New Zealand Heald
o Otago Daily Times
o The Post
o Waikato Times
1
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0089/latest/DLM1154688.html
2
https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2025-go2829
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
1
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• a news story on its websi
te3 as per section 93(2)(c) of the WMA, which was shared
twice on its LinkedIn profil
e4.
The Ministry also posted job listings
on https://www.seek.co.nz/ and https://jobs.govt.nz/. A copy of the job advertisement
I have provided you with copies of the text used for the Gazette notice, newspaper
advertisements, and online job advertisements.
The Ministry does not hold a copy of the final products of the five newspaper
advertisements, but you can contact the respective newspapers to access this information.
Applications received, shortlisted, and interviewed
The Board currently has four vacancies, as three members’ terms are ending and there is
one vacancy that the Minister for the Environment (the Minister) decided not to fill after the
last round of appointments in April 2025. This is in line with section 92(1) of the WMA:
“The
Minister must appoint at least 4, but not more than 8, members of the Board.” As per the section 93(2) of the WMA, the government must allow one month to receive
nominations. Nominations for the Board closed on 29 June 2025 and we received 26
nominations. All nominations were received through the Ministry’s inbox:
[email address]. Officials are currently undertaking shortlisting. We are unable to
provide you with the numbers of those shortlisted and interviewed as this information does
not yet exist.
The next step in the process is for officials to draft a briefing to the Minister seeking her
agreement to interview shortlisted nominees.
Once interviews are completed, officials will recommend appointments to the Minister, who
must consult with the Minister for Māori Development, as per section 93(4) of the WMA.
Officials will then draft a Cabinet paper to be considered by the Cabinet Appointments and
Honours Committee (APH). As part of this process, officials undertake consultation on the
Cabinet paper with other government departments, including Te Puni Kōkiri and the Ministry
for Women.
If APH approves the nominations proposed in the Cabinet paper, the nominees will be
contacted and appointed for a three-year term.
3
https://environment.govt.nz/what-government-is-doing/areas-of-work/waste/work-programme-on-
waste/waste-advisory-board/
4
https://nz.linkedin.com/company/environmentgovtnz
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
2
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Appointment letter
I have provided you with a copy of the letter template used by the Ministry to confirm newly
appointed Board members. As per section 92(4) of the
WMA5: An appointment must be
made by written notice to the person concerned.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Office of the Ombudsman of
my decisions relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The
relevant details can be found a
t: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Please note that due to the public interest in our work, the Ministry publishes responses to
requests for official information shortly after the response has been sent on our website at:
https://environment.govt.nz/about-us/official-information-act-requests/. If you have any
queries about this, please feel free to contact our Ministerial Services team at:
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Monique Esplin
Manager – Waste Policy Priorities
Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao
5
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0089/latest/DLM1154687.html
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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