Thank you for contacting the Office of Hon Erica Stanford, Minister of
Education, Minister of Immigration, Lead Coordination Minister for the
Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical
Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, and
Member of Parliament for East Coast Bays.

We appreciate you reaching out – the Minister considers all correspondence
to be important, and all messages are carefully read and considered.
Please do note it is not always possible to provide a personal response to
every email received. Personal views, feedback and suggestions are
gratefully received and will be passed on to the Minister and/or relevant
Agencies.

Please note the following to help us direct your correspondence:

* If you are seeking ministerial intervention for an immigration case,
please contact Associate Minister of Immigration, Hon Chris Penk, at
[email address] Minister Stanford is unable to comment on
individual cases.
* Emails relating to education matters that are operational in
nature will be transferred to the Ministry of Education (or other
agency).  Minister Stanford is unable to comment on individual cases.
You can contact the Ministry directly at:
[email address]
* For assistance related to historical abuse in state care, please
contact the Survivor Experiences Team at
[email address].
* If you have invited Minister Stanford to an event, or requested a
meeting, a member of staff may contact you for more information.
* Official Information or Privacy Act requests will be managed under the
relevant Acts, which may include transfer to another Agency.
* If you are a journalist, your request will be referred to the Press
Secretary.
* If you are a constituent of East Coast Bays, your email will be shared
with the Electorate Office.

Thank you again for writing to Minister Stanford.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Reception: +64 4 817 6805 | Ministerial Email:
[1][Erica Stanford request email] |
Web: beehive.govt.nz  | Post: Freepost Parliament, Private Bag 18 041,
Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Erica Stanford request email]

OIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

 

Dear Anna,

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request,
received on 26/11/2025, in which you requested the following information:

 

In a recent RNZ article by Stuff, the following quotes have been
attributed to you:

 

[1]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

 

“I think it's frankly disgusting, the behaviour, creating maps around the
country and lists that people feel that they have to be on, otherwise
they'll be maligned,” said Stanford.

 

More than 1000 school boards have pledged to sign up to Te Rārangi
Rangatira - a list of schools promising they would still give effect to Te
Tiriti despite the government changing the law so they don’t have to.

 

But Stanford said that schools have felt unfairly pressured to sign up
even if they didn’t really want to.

 

“There's a huge amount of pressure on the sector, very, very unfair, quite
nasty pressure that's been put on principals.”

 

She said principals have been ringing her saying, “they don't like the
pressure that's been put on them, and quite often they're signing up,
when, in fact, it wasn't something that they particularly wanted to do,
but they feel that there's pressure on them from certain people in
society.”

 

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I would like to request the
following information related to these quotes:

- A copy of all correspondence received by the Minister, the Minister's
staff, or the Minister's office from school representatives regarding Te
Rārangi Rangatira. For avoidance of doubt, correspondence refers to
letters, emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages.

- A list of all phone calls from school representatives to the Minister or
to the Minister's staff where Te Rārangi Rangatira was discussed,
including the date the phone call was received.

- All internal emails between the Minister, the Minister's staff, and the
Ministry of Education officials regarding Te Rārangi Rangatira.

 

I understand there may be privacy concerns for the school and I understand
if the school names and the names of the representatives need to be
withheld. I am more interested in the content of the correspondence and
the volume of phone calls received.

 

Your request will be answered within the provisions of the Official
Information Act.

 

 

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Erica Stanford

 

Office of Hon Erica Stanford

 

MP for East Coast Bays

Minister of Education

Minister of Immigration

Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal
Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care
of Faith-based Institutions

 
Website: [2]www.Beehive,govt.nz

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author
by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Anna Wilson <[FOI #33008 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 26 November 2025 9:39 am
To: Erica Stanford (MIN) <[email address]>
Subject: ESOIA801 | Official Information request - Communications with
schools regarding Te Tiriti

 

Good morning Minister Stanford,

 

In a recent RNZ article by Stuff, the following quotes have been
attributed to you:

 

[3]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

 

“I think it's frankly disgusting, the behaviour, creating maps around the
country and lists that people feel that they have to be on, otherwise
they'll be maligned,” said Stanford.

 

More than 1000 school boards have pledged to sign up to Te Rārangi
Rangatira - a list of schools promising they would still give effect to Te
Tiriti despite the government changing the law so they don’t have to.

 

But Stanford said that schools have felt unfairly pressured to sign up
even if they didn’t really want to.

 

“There's a huge amount of pressure on the sector, very, very unfair, quite
nasty pressure that's been put on principals.”

 

She said principals have been ringing her saying, “they don't like the
pressure that's been put on them, and quite often they're signing up,
when, in fact, it wasn't something that they particularly wanted to do,
but they feel that there's pressure on them from certain people in
society.”

 

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I would like to request the
following information related to these quotes:

- A copy of all correspondence received by the Minister, the Minister's
staff, or the Minister's office from school representatives regarding Te
Rārangi Rangatira. For avoidance of doubt, correspondence refers to
letters, emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages.

- A list of all phone calls from school representatives to the Minister or
to the Minister's staff where Te Rārangi Rangatira was discussed,
including the date the phone call was received.

- All internal emails between the Minister, the Minister's staff, and the
Ministry of Education officials regarding Te Rārangi Rangatira.

 

I understand there may be privacy concerns for the school and I understand
if the school names and the names of the representatives need to be
withheld. I am more interested in the content of the correspondence and
the volume of phone calls received.

 

Thank you,

 

Anna Wilson

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[4][FOI #33008 email]

 

Is [5][Erica Stanford request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Erica Stanford? If so, please contact us using
this form:

[6]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.s...
2. http://www.beehive,govt.nz/
3. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.s...
4. mailto:[FOI #33008 email]
5. mailto:[Erica Stanford request email]
6. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/fyi.o...
7. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/fyi.o...

hide quoted sections