2 September 2025
45 Pipitea Street, Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
James
fyi-request-31757-
[email address]
Tēnā koe James,
OIA request 25/26 0114 Request for use of Te reo on passports
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 25 July 2025.
You requested –
please provide all communications including but not limited to texts, emails and meeting
notes relating to English appearing first before te reo Māori on New Zealand Passports.
On 1 August 2025 we contacted you via email to clarify your request as the scope was too broad
and to specify a timeframe. You responded on 6 August 2025 and clarified your request as:
Please reduce the scope to all texts and emails concerning the changes announced in late
July. This should include the decision to put English first and any discussions around this. I
would like to see when this action was first floated, agreed to and signed off.
On 14 August 2025 you were advised that any clarification or amendment of a request is a new
request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response, as per
section 15(1AA) of the Act. The new due date for a response was confirmed as no later than the
20th working day, being 3 September 2025.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the fol owing information.
I refer you to appendix A attached alongside this letter which contains all communications
identified as being within scope of your request.
These are released to you with some information withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the Act – the
withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including
that of deceased natural persons.
Under section 9(1) of the Act, I have considered if the reasons for withholding the information
are outweighed by other considerations, which render it desirable, in the public interest, to
make that information available. I have not identified any public interest that outweighs the
need to withhold the information.
Some of the information has been omitted from the documents as it fal s outside the scope of
your request, any information of this nature has been marked as ‘out of scope’.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. Al requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Regulatory and Identity Services
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