The legally privileged parts of public health advice
Erika Whittome made this Official Information request to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Currently waiting for a response from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I see this document has lots of redactions categorized as legally privileged
https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/f...
The author is Michael Webster, Secretary of Cabinet.
I request this information from this document unredacted ie please share the legal advice given to the DPMC in this document.
This was advice for a public health issue that affected all of the public. The advice has a wide purview of all New Zealanders at the time in early 2022.
The advice was paid for by tax payers too.
The advice was not from external counsel . Kindly share the requested information under the Act.
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Tēnā koe,
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Link: [7]File-List
Link: [8]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [9]themeData
Link: [10]colorSchemeMapping
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5. https://centralagenciesjobs.cass.govt.nz...
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6. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/
7. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
8. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
9. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
10. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
hide quoted sections
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I am specifically referring to pages 44-50 of this document which was information for the New Zealand Cabinet. (I have submitted another request to the Minister of Health regarding pages 1-43 of this document.)
I am requesting the redacted content from pages 46 and p48 . Thanks very much.
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[UNCLASSIFIED]
Kia ora,
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA)
received on 8 August 2025, copied below. We will respond to your request
within the statutory timeframes set out in the Act. If we are unable to
meet these timeframes we will notify you.
Your request will be managed by the Ministerial Services team within DPMC.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us at
[DPMC request email].
DPMC may publish the response to your OIA request. If we publish the
response your personal information, including your name and contact
details, will be removed.
Ngā mihi,
Ministerial Coordinator
Ministerial Services
Strategy, Governance and Engagement
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
E [DPMC request email]
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
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are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
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-----Original Message-----
From: Erika Whittome <[FOI #31936 email]>
Sent: Friday, 8 August 2025 5:53 am
To: Information [DPMC] <[DPMC request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - The legally privileged parts of
public health advice
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, I see this document has
lots of redactions categorized as legally privileged
[1]https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/f...
The author is Michael Webster, Secretary of Cabinet.
I request this information from this document unredacted ie please share
the legal advice given to the DPMC in this document.
This was advice for a public health issue that affected all of the public.
The advice has a wide purview of all New Zealanders at the time in early
2022.
The advice was paid for by tax payers too.
The advice was not from external counsel . Kindly share the requested
information under the Act.
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
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Link: [4]File-List
Link: [5]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [6]themeData
Link: [7]colorSchemeMapping
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
this message or the information in it. If you have received this message
in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
Link: [8]File-List
Link: [9]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [10]themeData
Link: [11]colorSchemeMapping
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
this message or the information in it. If you have received this message
in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/f...
2. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
3. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
4. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
5. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
6. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
7. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
8. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
9. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
10. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
11. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
hide quoted sections
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