OIA26-0224
24 April 2026
Nigel Gray
[FYI request #33798 email]
Dear Nigel,
Thank you for your email of 20 March 2026 requesting reconsideration of part of your earlier
request, OIA26-0127. Your request has been considered under the Of icial Information Act
1982 (OIA).
You requested the following:
To assist MPI in progressing this request, I wish to clarify the scope of the items
declined under section 18(f). The following refinements are intended to ensure the
request can be met without substantial collation or research.
Item 3 — External Input Into Public Statements
This item is already limited to:
•
final published versions only
•
only those documents that received external review, edits, or approval
•
only the record of external input (name, nature of input, date)
To further assist, please limit this search to:
•
documents produced by Te Uru Rākau / NZ Forest Service
•
documents published between 1 January 2023 – 22 February 2026
Public statements made by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) officials are prepared
and approved through internal processes only. As no external input is used, the requested
information does not exist and is therefore refused under section 18(e) of the OIA as
the
information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be
found.
Item 4 — Meetings With Forestry--Sector Representatives
To reduce scope, please limit this to:
•
meetings held by Te Uru Rākau / NZ Forest Service
•
between 1 January 2023 – 22 February 2026
I confirm that I am not seeking minutes, notes, or detailed records — only the
meeting list (date, attendees, subject/purpose).
On 2 April 2026, MPI sought clarification to refine this part of your request. As noted in our
previous response (OIA26-0127), the scope and timeframe are substantial. As no
clarification was received by the specified date, this part of your request is refused under
section 18(f) of the OIA as
the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research.
As per section 18B of the OIA, we have considered whether consulting with you would
enable the request to be made in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal.
However, we do not consider that the request can be refined further in this instance after
previously attempting to refine your request with you under OIA26-0127.
Ministry for Primary Industries
Charles Fergusson Building
38-42 Bowen Street
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
mpi.govt.nz
Item 5 — Conflict--of--Interest Declarations
Specifically, I request:
To address privacy considerations, I am happy for MPI to provide this information in
anonymised form.
•
the number of declarations made
•
the general nature of the conflicts
•
the business units involved
•
the dates on which declarations were made
•
any mitigation steps recorded
No names or identifying details are required.
Across MPI, conflicts of interest typically relate to personal relationships, financial or other
personal interests, secondary employment, or voluntary activities. These are commonly
managed through measures such as:
• recusal from specific work or decision-making
• not sharing non-public information
• restricting access to specific information
• increased oversight
• limiting involvement or influence.
MPI’s conflict of interest management process consists of two parts, which are completed
annually by all staff:
• June: Al staff are required to discuss any conflicts of interest, secondary
employment, or volunteer roles with their manager and to create or update a
management plan where there are any actual, perceived, or potential conflicts. The
management plan is then included in staf ’s personnel file.
• July: Al staff must complete the Conflict-of-Interest Declaration on MPI’s learning and
development platform, Tiritiri, regardless of whether they have a conflict of interest.
Completion of this online declaration confirms that the individual has informed their
manager of any interests that could be assessed as an actual, perceived, or potential
conflict, secondary employment, or voluntary work, and that a management plan has
been agreed (or that none is required). The declaration itself is not a management
plan; this should already have been completed in June, where applicable.
The last declaration of a conflict of interest was completed by MPI staff in July 2025.
Should you have any concerns with this response, I would encourage you to raise these with
the Ministry for Primary Industries at
[email address]. Alternatively, you
are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143 or at
[email address].
Yours sincerely,
Olivia Sullivan
Director Forestry System
2
