27 May 2026
Ref: PMO OIA 790-2025-26
Aaron W
[FYI request #33496 email]
Dear Aaron,
Official Information Act request: recent changes to Media engagement
Thank you for your request made under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), received
by this office on 29 April 2026. You requested:
“
In cancelling your regular interview on TVNZ, you noted you wanted to "reset
how I want to engage with media".
[1] Please provide all material in relation to the decision to change your recent
media engagements, in particular your decision to not attend regular
interviews with TVNZ.
[2] I also request all correspondence you have had in relation to invitations to
appear on Q+A and all documents relating to your non-appearances on
Q+A.”
For ease of reference, we have numbered the parts of your request.
On 25 May 2026 I wrote to you and transferred Part [2] of your request to Television New
Zealand (TVNZ) on the basis that the information identified as being relevant to this part of
your request was more closely connected to TVNZ’s functions.
Part [1]: change to media engagements
We have interpreted Part [1] of your request as seeking all documents concerning recent
changes to the way the Prime Minister engages with media. There are no documents
including emails, texts or other material in scope, so this part of your request is refused under
section 18(e) of the Act on the basis that no relevant documents exist.
For context, the recent changes to how the Prime Minister engages with media, including
moving to consideration of some invitations on a case-by-case basis, is not unusual. Such
decisions in a Ministerial office may arise from some high-level discussions, but do not
necessarily generate documentation, such as emails or communication plans.
Part [2]: correspondence relating to appearance on TVNZ’s Q+A show
Fol owing our transfer of Part [2] of your request to TVNZ, for any invitations to appear on
TVNZ’s Q+A show, you raised a query as to whether this office could hold any additional
relevant correspondence that would not be held by TVNZ. When we received your request,
we understood this part of your request to be for correspondence held by this office among
or between relevant parties. This would include correspondence with TVNZ or internal
correspondence within this office, but not correspondence received from the general public.
The only correspondence we identified as in scope of this interpretation of Part [2] of your
request is also held by TVNZ. As we believed this correspondence to be more closely
connected to TVNZ’s functions, we consulted with them, and they accepted a partial transfer
of your request. TVNZ wil respond to you directly with their decision on this part of your
request.
Given the volume of correspondence this office receives every day from the general public,
on any number of subjects, if you had intended your request to include such
correspondence, identifying relevant information would likely have involved substantial
collation and research. It is particularly difficult to identify relevant material on a given
subject where an individual may have raised many subjects in one piece of correspondence.
If you are interested in correspondence from the general public, I would invite you to consider
making a new request for that correspondence, while refining timeframe or other parameters,
to enable us to respond.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision under
section 28(3) of the Act.
Yours sincerely,
Cameron Burrows
Chief of Staff
2
