National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Wil is Street
Wel ington Central
Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
19 May 2026
Ref: 21147
Harwood Wilson
[FYI request #34055 email]
Tēnā koe Harwood
We refer to your request of 12 March 2026 to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting the
following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):
1. Any communication involving the Executive Leadership Team within the past 3 months
regarding any aspect of the government select committee, be that discussing their
appearance at, tactics about the meeting or other, include ALL forms of written
communication such as messenger, microsoft teams, whatsapp, email or SMS.
2. Any communication, reports or documents within the past 6 months regarding the
performance, conduct or concerns of the Executive Leadership Team. I wil require
information about any communication within FENZ. I do not require communications
originating from members of the public. However, if complaints or concerns regarding the
Executive Leadership Team have been received from members of the public during this
period, please provide the number of such complaints or concerns recorded.
On 26 March 2026 you agreed to refine your request. Your refined request has been considered
under the OIA, and our response is set out below.
In line with our obligations to make and communicate our decision to you within the statutory
timeframe, we wrote to you on 12 May providing our decision and outlining that we decided to
grant your request and would release the remaining information requested without undue delay.
Thank you for your patience and please see our response to your request below.
Part 1
1. any issues regarding select committees within the last 60 days (from today), that have
been communicated by any written means that have either been received by or sent by the
Chief Executive or Deputy Chief Executives, this is critical information for public
transparency, if this is not acceptable please advise.
Please find attached, as
Appendix One to this response, a copy of the requested information. As
outlined in our decision letter, some information has been withheld under the following sections
of the OIA:
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons; and
• 9(2)(g)(i), 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 public service agency or organisation in the
course of their duty.
2. I now query who was the person or position that sent 1000 emails within the past 3 months
containing the keyword "select committee"?
We advise that the person referred to was Emma Coats, National Manager Board and Ministerial
Services.
Part 2
1. Any written communication, reports or documents within the past 3 months (from today)
on the performance, conduct, or any other centrally recorded information on the Chief
Executive or Deputy Chief Executives, In the event that individuals are not legally able to be
identifiable, please provide as much information as available. I wil stil require information
within this time period on the total number of issues received regarding the above issues
from the public or otherwise. This is critical information for public transparency, if this is
not acceptable please advise.
Correspondence relating to a complaint from the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union
(NZPFU) is provided as
Appendix Two. This complaint concerns the conduct of Fire and Emergency
leaders and the use of CCTV systems during industrial action. As outlined in our decision letter,
some information has been withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA to protect the privacy of
natural persons.
Some information contained within
Appendices One and
Two falls outside the scope of your
request. Where this occurs, the information has been redacted and labelled “out of scope.”
Duplicate email chains have also been removed.
In relation to the number of issues received from the public, we advise that six complaints have
been recorded since 26 December 2025 via phone or Fire and Emergency’s online complaints and
enquiries forms. These complaints did not identify specific Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
members and instead related to senior leadership generally.
Any further information relating to the performance or conduct of ELT members are highly
sensitive in nature because they concern allegations raised by, or about internal staff. Information
about workplace behaviour carries a high privacy interest for both the complainant and the person
complained about.
More broadly, the integrity of Fire and Emergency’s complaints management system depends on
the confidential handling of allegations and related information. There is an implied obligation of
confidence in respect of information provided as part of a complaint process. Personnel have a
reasonable expectation that concerns will be treated confidentially and disclosed only to the
extent necessary to resolve them.
If information about complaints and conduct were routinely released, personnel would be less
likely to engage with the process, and concerning behaviour would be less likely to be reported or
addressed. The Ombudsman has recognised that the release of confidential employment
information can damage agencies’ working relationships with staff, including in relation to
employment complaints and investigations. For these reasons, information beyond what is
provided in Appendix Two is withheld under the fol owing sections of the OIA:
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons; and
• 9(2)(ba)(i), to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which
any person has been or could be compel ed to provide under the authority of any
enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the
supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public
interest that such information should continue to be supplied.
In accordance with section 9(1) of the OIA, we have considered the public interest in release.
While we have withheld specific information, we acknowledge the public interest in accountability
for executive public sector roles. We can therefore advise that we are aware of one further
centrally recorded issue relating to conduct involving one of the Deputy Chief Executives. That
matter is currently under investigation.
2. * Further I ask, what is the process for staff to report issues regarding the Chief Executive
and Deputy Chief Executives?
Fire and Emergency partners with Fair Way Resolution Limited (Fair Way), an independent
external provider specialising in dispute resolution. Fair Way offers an avenue for personnel to
raise concerns, including at an early stage before matters escalate to formal complaints.
Where a respondent is a member of the ELT and/or has a direct connection to the Fair Way
contract, the Fair Way client manager will advise the relevant relationship manager (without
disclosing personal investigation details) or liaise directly with the respondent’s one-up manager
before investigation documentation is submitted.
Conflicts of interest are managed through immediate notification processes. Responsibility for
appointing investigation decision makers rests with the Workplace Relations Manager. If the Chief
Executive is the respondent, the Board Chair is notified.
We trust that the information being provided is of assistance. If you require further information,
please email [FENZ request email]
Please note that because of the identified public interest in the information that you have
requested, we intend to publish this response (with your personal details removed) on our
website.
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
