16 February 2026
Spencer Jones
[FYI request #33540 email] Dear Spencer
RESPONSE TO YOUR OFFICIAL INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your email of 20 January 2026, in which you requested, pursuant to the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:
Please provide copies of any records held by the Ministry of Defence that fall within the
following classes:
1. Policies, directives, or guidance documents relating to the management of
environmental or airborne hazards on Defence estates (including biological,
particulate, or chemical hazards).
2. Documents relating to record-keeping and retention requirements for hazard
management records, including any disposal authorities relied upon.
3. Correspondence between the Ministry of Defence and NZDF, contractors, or
other agencies relating to:
a. environmental hazard management;
b. monitoring or testing regimes;
c. incidents or exceedances;
d. record retention or destruction.
4. Any reviews, audits, or assurance activities concerning environmental or airborne
hazard management or record-keeping.
Records not held
If any information within scope is stated to be “not held”, please advise:
whether the information was ever created;
if created, the retention policy or disposal authority relied upon;
the date and scope of any destruction or transfer;
whether another agency or contractor may hold the information.
I understand you have made similar requests to the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)
and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). I refer you to their responses regarding
material generated by those agencies. Please consider this response relating only to material
generated by the Ministry of Defence (the Ministry).
The Ministry conducts audits of NZDF hazardous substance controls and compliance across
all NZDF camps and bases. The Ministry does not hold responsibility for the operation or
management of defence estate and infrastructure.
The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO Act) instructs that the
Secretary of Defence:
shall audit the EPA controls on hazardous substances under the control of the
Minister of Defence, and report the results to the Minister for the Environment and the
Minister of Defence
The NZDF is responsible for issuing policies, directives, or guidance documents relating to
the management of hazardous substance controls and compliance. The NZDF are also
responsible for conducting hazard management, monitoring, testing, and responding to
hazardous substances audit recommendations.
The separate elements of your request have been numbered for administrative purposes.
1. Policies, directives, or guidance documents relating to the management of
environmental or airborne hazards on Defence estates (including biological,
particulate, or chemical hazards).
As explained above, the Ministry has no role in the management of environment or airborne
hazards on Defence estates. As such, this element of your request is declined, pursuant to
section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information requested is not held.
2. Documents relating to record-keeping and retention requirements for hazard
management records, including any disposal authorities relied upon.
As above, this element of your request is declined, pursuant to section 18(g)(i) of the Act, as
the Ministry only holds hazardous substances records relating to audit reports.
3. Correspondence between the Ministry of Defence and NZDF, contractors, or other
agencies relating to:
a. environmental hazard management;
b. monitoring or testing regimes;
c. incidents or exceedances;
d. record retention or destruction.
As your request spans 25 years, and has a significantly broad scope, this element of your
request is declined, pursuant to section 18(f) of the Act, as it would require substantial
collation or research. For the Ministry to satisfy this element of your request, you would need
to identify specific incidents or activities that you are interested in. Given the Ministry’s
functions, I would expect any such information to arise primarily in relation to the Ministry’s
audit work, and that key details would be addressed in the reports identified in response to
question 4 below.
4. Any reviews, audits, or assurance activities concerning environmental or airborne
hazard management or record-keeping.
The following documents are considered in scope of your request. In some instances, final
summary reports, which were approved by the Minister of Defence, have been provided in
accordance with section 16(e) of the Act, whereby a summary of information can be provided
in place of the full reports. The summary reports accurately reflect the information contained
in the full reports.
relating to this audit is withheld in full, in accordance with the fol owing grounds of the Act, in
order to:
• maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of
opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an organisation or
officers and employees of any department or organisation in the course of their duty
(section 9(2)(g)(i)); and
• maintain the constitutional convention for the time being that protect the confidentiality of
advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials (section 9(2)(f)(iv)).
Where information is withheld under section 9(2) of the Act, the public interest is not
considered to outweigh the need to protect that information.
Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to request the Ombudsman to investigate
and review this response.
Yours sincerely
Anton Youngman
Deputy Secretary, Strategy Management and Assessment
