Kia ora,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request documents held by the ministry that answer the following question:

Was Sir Geoffrey Palmer the only person considered for appointment as President of the Law Commission in 2005 (appointment effective 1 December 2005)?

For the avoidance of doubt, please provide any document(s) that record, state or indicate one or more of the following:

Whether any other candidate or potential candidate was identified, approached, sounded out, assessed, recommended or put forward for the role (whether informally or formally)

Whether the Minister and or Cabinet were advised that Palmer was the only person being considered, or that there were no alternative candidates

Any note, briefing, email or submission that records the options considered for the appointment or the process used to identify candidates

I do not seek the identity of any other person. Any personal information may be redacted. I seek only confirmation of whether the appointment was rival-free, and the basis on which that conclusion is recorded.

To reduce compliance burden, I do not require background material unrelated to candidate consideration (eg general descriptions of the Law Commission’s functions), nor copies of publicly available documents such as the Gazette notice. Please provide only the minimum material necessary to answer the question above.

If the Ministry holds no documents that speak to whether other candidates were considered, please confirm that fact.

Please provide the information electronically.

Ngā mihi,
Liam Hehir