Hon Judith Collins KC
Attorney General
Minister of Defence
Minister for Digitising Government
Minister for the Public Service
Minister Responsible for the GCSB
Minister Responsible for the NZSIS
Minister for Space
JCOIA-423
Leeban Kim
By email: [FYI request #32196 email]
Dear Leehan
REQUEST UNDER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
I acknowledge your email dated 2 September 2025, and your subsequent email dated 22
September 2025, in which you requested information from the Attorney-General under the
Official Information Act 1982. Specifically:
{On 2 September 2025} My inquiry is related to the amount of funds or resources dedicated to
your portfolio as Attorney-General (which takes on the 'parens patriae' jurisdiction to protect
charities) for the exercise of the investigative power under s 58 and 60 of the Charitable Trusts
Act 1957 (or for charity regulation in general).
How often has this power been used to ensure the accountability of the charitable trusts?
If not, what are the reasons for this power not being exercised?
{On 22 September 2025} I have asked this question on 'parens patriae' for my Honours
Dissertation I am writing which is due on 10th October.
I would very much appreciate even partial information about the fund allocated currently for
the Attorney-General to investigate on charities.
Attorney-General's role as protector of charities
By way of background, under section 58 of the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 (the
Act), I have the
discretion to inquire into any charity in New Zealand. Under s 60, certain proceedings can be
brought by the Attorney-General or others. Where such proceedings are brought by others,
Crown Counsel may appear on my behalf as protector of charities. My functions under s 58
and 60 are some of the functions I have as protector of charities.
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand I +64 4 817 6808 I [Judith Collins request email]
Responses to your requests for information
Funds or resources dedicated to my investigatory role as protector of charities
Work undertaken under the umbrella of the Attorney-General's role as protector of charities
is funded by the Attorney-General yearly budget appropriation for Law Officer Functions. For
this year, for example, further information is available at Vote Attorney-General - Vol 6 Justice
Sector - The Estimates of Appropriations 2025/26 - Budget 2025. This work is predominantly
completed by Crown Law and generally not cost recovered, which means that no agency, trust
or individual is charged for the work.
Crown Law has compiled information about the resources used by the Office in response to
requests for investigations under s 58 since 2009. Over that time, Crown Law staff have spent
5,185.35 hours working on such matters. I note that although no one is charged for that work,
using the hourly rate counsel use for their chargeable work, it had a value of $1,034,216.50.
In your request, you also mention resources dedicated to work under s 60 and other "charity
regulation" work in general. For completeness, since 2009, Crown Law's work on my behalf
as protector of charities has involved 15,192.43 hours of time (valued at $3,125,925.35). This
includes the work on s 58 investigations set out above.
For work undertaken before 2009, I am refusing your request under s 18{f) of the Official
Information Act 1982 as it cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
Crown Law began using a new filing system for charitable trust matters in 2009. Before then,
relevant files were not specifically identified in the system as charitable trust files. To quantify
the funds or resources dedicated to charitable trust work undertaken before 2009, and how
often the power to investigate under s 58 had been exercised, would require substantial work,
including reviewing a large quantity of files from over fifty years (many of them only available
in hard copy).
I have considered whether extending the time limit for responding to your request would
enable us to answer that portion of your question, but I understand from your 22 September
2025 email that this would be of no use to you due to your 10 October 2025 dissertation
deadline.
Exercise of s 58 investigatory power and reasons for not investigating
When I act as protector of charities, or exercise powers under the Charitable Trusts Act, I do
so in my role as Senior Law Officer of the Crown. Information held by, or on behalf, of the Law
Officers is not subject to the Official Information Act.1 For that reason, the Official Information
Act does not require or regulate a response to your query regarding substantive decisions on
1 Ombudsman Cases W41067 and W44062; and
Berryman v Solicitor-General [2005) NZAR 512 (HC) at [44).
whether to exercise my s 58 investigatory power. However, I make the following comments
in case they assist.
There have been 103 files opened by Crown Law since 2009 that relate to requests for
investigation under s 58. Of those 103 files, 10 formal investigations have been conducted.
For the remainder of the files, decisions were made not to formally investigate or pursue
matters further. Such decisions often followed quite substantive initial inquiries, and the
receipt of further information.
There are a range of reasons why matters referred to the Attorney-General for investigation
under s 58 do not progress to a formal inquiry. Following review of the files, Crown Law has
summarised the common reasons why formal investigations have not been commenced. They
are:
(i)
The complaint is withdrawn.
(ii)
Insufficient information is provided by the applicant (including on further request).
(iii)
Complaints are made anonymously, so counsel is unable to contact the applicant
regarding next steps, or for further information.
(iv)
The complaint is outside of the scope of the Attorney-General's function under s
58.
(v)
The complaint does not meet the threshold for investigation under s 58. It might
concern administrative matters or differences of opinion between trustees, for
example, rather than allegations of breach of trust or misallocation of trust funds.
(vi)
An investigation under s 58 is not the appropriate avenue to address the concern.
(vii)
The Attorney-General has no jurisdiction because the trust complained of is not
charitable.
(viii)
Other investigations have occurred or are occurring and there would be no
additional purpose in the Attorney-General investigating.
(ix)
The events complained of have yet to occur and so an investigation would be
premature.
(x)
The Attorney-General elects an alternative method to fulfil their role as protector
of charities (for example, under seeking orders in the High Court under s 60).
Right to complain to the Ombudsman
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.
Yours sincerely
�
