17 October 2025
Libby Bentley
[FYI request #32129 email]
Ref: OIA-2025/26-0174
Tēnā koe Libby,
Official Information Act request relating to the Local Government Flood Resilience Co-
Investment Fund
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request of 26 August 2025. Your
request was partially transferred to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
on 3 September 2025. Your request to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) was for:
“I am requesting the following information related to the $100 mil ion “Local
Government Flood Resilience Co-Investment Fund”, as described under the
“Initiatives for North Island Weather Events Response and Recovery Package” in
the 2023 Budget:
1. All Cabinet papers, Ministerial briefings, internal advice, or other documents
that supported or informed the creation of this Fund.
2. Any documents that outline the purpose, scope, criteria, or proposed
mechanisms for how the funding will be allocated or accessed
3. Any documents relating to the eligibility criteria for the fund,
4. Any material prepared for or by the Minister of Local Government, Minister
for Regional Economic Development, Minister for Climate Change, or
Minister of Finance, relating to the joint agreement required to draw down
the tagged contingency.
5. Any documents that confirm approval or agreement to the use of the fund, if
that has occurred.”
On 30 September, we wrote to you extending the time limit for response by 21 working days,
to 31 October 2025. The additional time was needed to complete consultations before a final
decision was made on your request. I am now in a position to respond.
Cyclone Recovery Unit in DPMC
The transfer of your request from DIA covers any relevant DPMC information. The Cyclone
Recovery Unit (CRU) was a business unit within DPMC that supported the functional Chief
Executive, Cyclone Recovery hosted by DPMC to lead and coordinate the government’s
recovery work programme following the North Island Weather Events (NIWE) of early 2023.
The NIWE included Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend
flooding. The functional Chief Executive, Cyclone Recovery ended in June 2025 and the CRU
was disestablished. DPMC continues to hold information relating to the Local Government
Flood Resilience Co-Investment Fund.
Prior to being disestablished, advice and Cabinet documents were published on DPMC’s
website to ensure ongoing access to and transparency of the information that had been
generated by this work. Information held by DPMC is included in the briefings, Cabinet papers
and other documents that DPMC has published on our website. Where this is the case, links
to those documents have been provided.
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Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand 6011
64 4 817 9698 www.dpmc.govt.nz
Background to the Local Government Flood Resilience Co-Investment Fund
As part of Budget 2023, the DIA received $100 million in funding to establish a Local
Government Flood Resilience Co-Investment Fund (the Fund). Following the NIWE, this fund
was rescoped and reprioritised to focus only on regions impacted by these weather events.
The Fund allowed Councils in areas impacted by the NIWE to seek Crown co-investment to
support the proactive management of climate-exacerbated flood risk and allowed local
authorities to manage near-term costs associated with the recovery.
On 9 May 2023, Ministers agreed that the design of the Fund be progressed in conjunction
with the Future of Severely Affected Locations (FOSAL) work. On 11 August 2023, a briefing
was sent to the Minister for Cyclone Recovery and the Associate Minister for Cyclone
Recovery, seeking agreement to areas of focus, assessment criteria, and a phased decision-
making process to enable an initial tranche of funding decisions to be made. The Fund
provided financial support of $62.88 million for 34 projects across 15 councils.
The Fund was also used for other priority recovery initiatives that did not otherwise have a
funding source, including Category 3 voluntary buyouts outside Auckland, Tairāwhiti and
Hawke’s Bay, urgent funding for sediment and debris removal in Hawke’s Bay, and a
contribution to the Northland Emergency Centre. The remaining balance of $3.898 million was
redirected to top up a Budget 2024 initiative (the Cyclone Recovery Capability Fund).
Originally all projects were to be completed by 30 June 2025, however several councils
experienced delays and, in December 2024, joint Ministers agreed that councils could have up
to an additional six months to complete the work if needed. As of early June 2025, 13 projects
were completed, with a further nine projects on track for completion by 30 June. The remaining
projects were granted an extension until 31 December 2025.
More detailed background information and context is provided in Item 1 of the documents
released to you.
Information identified as relevant to Parts 1, 2, 4 and 5 of your request
Parts 1, 2, 4 and 5 of your request are for Cabinet papers, briefings and other documents about
the creation, purpose, allocation, access to and use of the Fund. We have identified DPMC
documents relevant to one or more of these parts of your request.
Please find attached DPMC documents relevant to your request as set out in the table below.
Documents have either been released to you in the attached PDF or, where these are already
publicly available, we have provided you with links to the relevant documents.
As noted in your question, the Fund was created as part of Budget 2023. The relevant Budget
2023 documents are published on The Treasury website, as included in the table below.
Item
Date
Reference or
Title and Website Link (where Information
Description
already published)
Withheld
11/04/2023
CAB-23-SUB-0140
Cabinet Paper setting up fund:
Released in full
Budget 2023: North Island
Weather Events Initial Package
Link to PDF:
www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/defa
ult/files/2023-08/b23-cab-23-
sub-0140-4799716.pdf
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Item
Date
Reference or
Title and Website Link (where Information
Description
already published)
Withheld
July 2023
Budget 2023
Vote Internal Affairs (North
Relevant parts
Information Release
Island Weather Events
released in full.
Initiatives):
www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/defa
ult/files/2023-08/b23-frs-intaff-
niwe-4779632.pdf
Item 1
30/06/2025
Extract from Cyclone
Part E: Cyclone Recovery Unit
Some information
Recovery Unit
Financial Accountability and
withheld under:
handover notes
Reporting Activities Handover
9(2)(a)
Guide for DPMC
Item 5
27/09/2023
DPMC-2023/24-396
Briefing: Appropriations
Some information
approval to drawdown $10
withheld under:
million from the Local
9(2)(a)
Government Flood Resilience
Co-investment Fund to Vote
Internal Affairs to support the
Hawke’s Bay Silt Recovery
Task Force
Item 6
7/11/2023
DPMC-2023/24-478
Briefing: Appropriations
Some information
approval to drawdown $10
withheld under:
million from the Local
9(2)(a)
Government Flood Resilience
Co-investment Fund to Vote
Internal Affairs to sustain the
Hawke’s Bay Silt Recovery
Taskforce to end of November
2023
As noted in the table above, and on the documents themselves, some information has been
withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the privacy of individuals.
Documents relating to the eligibility criteria for the fund
Part 3 of your request was for information about the eligibility criteria for the Fund. DPMC
documents identified as relevant this part of your request are set out in the table below. These
have either been released to you or, where these are already publicly available, we have
provided you with links to the relevant documents.
Item
Date
Reference or
Title and Website Link (where Information
Description
already published)
Withheld
9/10/2025
Published previous
Email from CRU to various
Some information
response to an
councils with attachments
withheld under:
official information
relating to the Fund: “Guidance 9(2)(a)
request (from 26
for agencies to develop advice
June 2025).
on funding decisions” and
Eligibility criteria for
“Information for near-term
the Fund can be
initiatives proposed for funding”.
found from page 18
onwards.
The response can be found on
the DPMC website at:
www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/
files/2025-07/dpmc-roia-oia-
2024-25-0953.pdf.
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Item
Date
Reference or
Title and Website Link (where Information
Description
already published)
Withheld
Item 2
13/07/2023
DPMC-2023/24-59
Aide-Memoire: Allocating the
Some information
Local Government Flood
withheld under:
Resilience Co-Investment Fund 9(2)(a)
9(2)(b)(ii)
Item 3
11/08/2023
DPMC-2023/24-116
Briefing: Template, criteria and
Some information
timeline for allocating the Local withheld under:
Government Flood Resilience
9(2)(a)
Co-Investment Fund
Item 4
13/09/2023
DPMC-2023/24-287
Briefing: Local Government
Some information
Flood Resilience Co-Investment withheld under:
Fund – Funding
9(2)(a)
Recommendations
9(2)(b)(ii)
Item 7
14/12/2023
DPMC-2023/24-510
Briefing: Local Government
Some information
Flood Resilience Co-investment withheld under:
Fund: Tranche 2 funding
9(2)(a)
recommendations
9(2)(b)(ii)
Item 8
06/12/2024
DPMC-2024/25-473
Briefing: Local Government
Released in full.
Flood Resilience Co-investment
Fund: Extension of project
timeframes and proposed
funding for Northland
16/04/2024
DPMC-2023/24-1071 Briefing: Drawdown from the
Some information
Local Government Flood
withheld under:
Resilience Co-Investment Fund 9(2)(a)
Briefing is from Pages 51-56 of
the PDF.
CRU Briefings from 24/07/2023
to 2/04/2025
DPMC Webpage:
www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/
proactive-release-cyclone-
recovery-unit-briefings
Link to PDF:
www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/
files/2025-07/pr-cyclone-
recovery-unit-briefings.pdf
As noted in the table above, and on the documents themselves, some information has been
withheld under the following sections of the Act:
• section 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of individuals
• section 9(2)(b)(ii), to protect the commercial position of the person who supplied the
information, or who is the subject of the information
In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the Act. No public interest has been identified that would be sufficient to outweigh the reasons
for withholding that information.
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Where information in scope of your request is already publicly available, your request has been
refused in relation to that information under section 18(d) of the Act.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision under section
28(3) of the Act.
This response wil be published on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s website
during our regular publication cycle. Typically, information is released monthly, or as otherwise
determined. Your personal information including name and contact details will be removed for
publication.
Nāku noa, nā
Alan Cassidy
Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate
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