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Aaron
[FYI request #34608 email]
1 July 2026
Tēnā koe Aaron
OIA: GEMS-47981 – Individual Ministry of Education staff member and
Conflicts of Interest
Thank you for your email of 5 May 2026 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information concerning Rowan Brickell in her capacity as
Acting General Manager, Te Uepū Reo Māori:
Specifically, I request the following information for the period of March 2025 to
the date of this request:
1. Interests register: Copies of all entries in the organisation's Interests
Register relating to Rowan Brickell, including any annual or ad hoc
declarations;
2. Secondary Interests: Copies of any applications for, and approvals of,
secondary employment, or private consultancy work held by Rowan Brickell;
3. Specific Disclosures: Any written disclosures made by Rowan Brickell
regarding conflicts of interest (actual, potential or perceived), including any
with relation to Kia Ata Mai Educational Trust and Te Hua Kawariki;
4. Management Plans: Any Conflict of Interest Management Plans or Risk
Mitigation Strategies put into place to manage identified interests for Rowan
Brickell, including that of Kia Ata Mai, where I understand her sister Cath Rau
is the Director;
5. Recusals: Any records (including meeting minutes or file notes) indicating
instances where Rowan Brickell recused herself from discussions or decision-
making due to a declared interest;
6. Gifts and Hospitality: A copy of all entries in the Gifts and Hospitality
Register associated with Rowan Brickell;
7. Conversations: Any conversations where Rowan Brickell has been
mentioned or involved relating to any Ministry work and Kia Ata Mai or Te Hua
Wel ington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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Kawariki, including any conversations or correspondence between the Ministry
of Education and the Minister of Education's Office.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Regarding
parts one to four and
part seven of your request, as the staff member in
question was in the role in a temporary manner, the information requested is of a
personal nature, and it is in the public interest that staff are able to disclose this
information in a confidential manner, I am refusing these parts of your request under
section 18(a), since, by virtue of the following sections of the Act, there is good
reason for withholding the information in full:
• 9(2)(a) - to protect the privacy of natural persons
• 9(2)(ba)(ii) – to protect information which is subject to an obligation of
confidence or which any person has been or could be compelled to provide
under the authority of any enactment, where the making available of the
information would be likely otherwise to damage the public interest.
As required under section 9(1) of the Act, I have considered the public interest in
releasing the information withheld. I do not consider that the public interest
considerations favouring the release of this information are sufficient to outweigh the
need to withhold it at this time.
Regarding
part five of your request, no information concerning any recusals by
Rowan Brickell from meetings has been found. I am therefore refusing this
information under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information requested does not
exist.
Regarding
part six of your request, the Ministry discloses all gifts received by
Ministry officials during the Annual Review process. The gifts register lists roles of
officials who received gifts and does not note names. We do note that there were no
gifts recorded as being received by the General Manager of Te Uepū Reo Māori
during the period where Rowan Brickell was Acting General Manager, as of 26 June
2026. The Ministry’s Responses to Written Questions during the Annual Review
process can be found on the Parliamentary website at the following link:
https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/all Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five working days.
Your name and contact details wil be removed.
education.govt.nz
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Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review
my decision on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do
this by writing t
o [email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman,
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Antony Harvey
General Manager
Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre
education.govt.nz
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