abinet material on whether the NZ–India Free Trade Agreement can be renegotiated - Urgent processing requested
Joshua Riley made this Official Information request to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for Joshua Riley to read recent responses and update the status.
From: Joshua Riley
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request the following information held by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, including the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister's Office.
Information requested
1. Any Cabinet paper, Cabinet committee paper, or accompanying minute that addresses whether the New Zealand–India Free Trade Agreement can be renegotiated, varied, or amended after signing.
2. Any briefing, memorandum, or advice to the Prime Minister addressing whether the agreement can be renegotiated, varied, or amended.
3. Any communications between the Prime Minister's Office and the Minister of Trade regarding the basis for the Minister's public position that the agreement "cannot be renegotiated."
4. A schedule of any Cabinet papers or Cabinet committee papers relating to the New Zealand–India Free Trade Agreement, identifying date and subject matter, even where the documents themselves are withheld.
Request for urgent processing under section 12(2)
Public submissions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee close at 11.59pm on Sunday 17 May 2026. The basis for the Minister of Trade's public position that the agreement "cannot be renegotiated" is directly relevant to how Parliament, submitters, and the public should evaluate the agreement. The standard 20-working-day timeframe would result in a response after the submission window has closed.
Pre-emptive responses to anticipated grounds for withholding
Cabinet confidentiality / section 9(2)(f)(iv) — confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers and officials. This ground is subject to the public interest balancing test in section 9(1). Where the substance of the relevant Cabinet decision has already been made public (i.e. the Minister's "cannot be renegotiated" position), the residual confidentiality interest is reduced. I request that the schedule of papers (request 4) be provided in full as a minimum, even where individual documents are withheld.
Section 6(a) — likely to prejudice international relations. As with my parallel request to MFAT, I note the information concerns legal and procedural mechanisms rather than negotiating substance. Documents may be released with appropriate redactions rather than withheld in full.
Section 18(g) — information not held. If DPMC holds no relevant material, please confirm this in writing. Confirmation that no such material exists is itself relevant to the public interest given the Minister's public claim.
Format and partial release
Same as the parallel MFAT request: partial release with redactions where possible, schedule of withheld documents, reasons sufficient for Ombudsman review.
Please contact me before refusing or transferring, under the section 13 duty to provide reasonable assistance.
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Riley
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
Kia ora,
Thank you for your urgent request made under the Official Information Act 1982 received today, 8 May 2026, copied below. We will respond to your request within the statutory timeframes set out in the Act. If we are unable to meet these timeframes we will notify you.
Your request will be managed by the Ministerial Services team within DPMC. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us at [DPMC request email].
DPMC may publish the response to your OIA request. If we publish the response your personal information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.
Ngā mihi
Ministerial Coordinator
Ministerial Services
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
E [DPMC request email]
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information in it. If you have received this message in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
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From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[UNCLASSIFIED]
Kia ora Joshua
Regarding your urgent OIA request as below, sent to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) and specifically in regard to parts [1]
and [3]; we would normally seek a partial transfer to the Minister for
Trade and Investment (MTI) and/or MFAT under section 14(b)(ii) of the Act,
as the information requested is more closely connected to their portfolio
functions and responsibilities.
Due to your request being made under urgency, this is to consult with you
on whether you would prefer to make your request directly to MTI and
MFAT?
Alternatively, we are happy to organise these parts of your request to be
transferred but we would need to complete certain processes and
formalities including giving time to consult with both the Minister's
office and MFAT which would take some additional time.
If you did want to make your request directly to the Minister and MFAT, I
would be grateful if you could confirm that to me so that we can close
these parts of your request to DPMC as soon as possible. I will proceed
with consultations to transfer these parts of your request if we have not
heard back from you by 10am Wednesday 13 May.
The contact email address for the Hon Todd McClay, Minister for Trade and
Investment is: [1][email address] and for MFAT is:
[2][email address]
1. Any Cabinet paper, Cabinet committee paper, or accompanying minute that
addresses whether the New Zealand–India Free Trade Agreement can be
renegotiated, varied, or amended after signing.
3. Any communications between the Prime Minister's Office and the Minister
of Trade regarding the basis for the Minister's public position that the
agreement "cannot be renegotiated."
I will get back to you as soon as I can in relation to any information in
scope of your request held by DPMC.
Ngâ mihi,
Pen
Ministerial Services
Strategy, Governance and Engagement
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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From: Joshua Riley
I confirm that I have a parallel OIA request currently being processed by MFAT covering the same subject area (lodged 8 May 2026, acknowledged by MFAT the same day). My MFAT request specifically captures briefings, advice, and correspondence to the Minister of Trade, the Prime Minister, or Cabinet addressing whether the agreement can be renegotiated, as well as communications between MFAT and the Trade Minister's office on this question. So the originating-agency documents in scope of my DPMC request items 1 and 3 should be reached through that parallel request without need for transfer.
On that basis I would prefer that DPMC retain my request as filed, without transfer, and process it for the information DPMC itself holds. Specifically:
- For request 1 (Cabinet papers), I am content for DPMC to interpret this as being limited to copies held by the Cabinet Office in DPMC's own records. I am not asking DPMC to source originating material from MFAT.
- For request 3 (PMO–Trade Minister communications), I am similarly content for DPMC to limit this to records DPMC holds. Communications also held at MFAT will be picked up through my parallel MFAT request.
- Requests 2 (PM briefings) and 4 (schedule of Cabinet papers) are unique to DPMC and remain unchanged.
This approach should reduce the consultation burden you mentioned and allow DPMC to respond on the documents within its own holdings on the original urgent timeframe.
If DPMC nonetheless considers a partial transfer necessary for any specific document or category, I am content for that to occur on a document-specific basis rather than a wholesale transfer of requests 1 and 3 — but only where the consultation would not delay DPMC's response on its own holdings.
Please confirm receipt of this clarification and your intended approach.
Joshua Riley
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Kia ora Joshua
Thank you for your reply and clarified request which as per the provisions
under section 15AA we have received today, 11 May 2026.
Noting your request is to be treated with urgency, I will scope your
clarified request and respond to you in relation to you with any
information held by DPMC as soon as possible.
Ngā mihi,
Pen
Ministerial Services
Corporate
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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[UNCLASSIFIED]
Kia ora Joshua
Please see the attached letter regarding your recent OIA request.
Pen
Ngā mihi,
Ministerial Services
Corporate
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
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Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
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The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
this message or the information in it. If you have received this message
in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
2. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
4. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
5. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
6. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
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8. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[UNCLASSIFIED]
Kia ora
Please find attached a letter regarding your recent OIA request.
Ngā mihi
Ministerial Coordinator
Ministerial Services
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
E [1][DPMC request email]
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
this message or the information in it. If you have received this message
in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
Link: [2]File-List
Link: [3]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [4]themeData
Link: [5]colorSchemeMapping
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The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
the intended recipient only and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
this message or the information in it. If you have received this message
in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[DPMC request email]
mailto:[DPMC request email]
2. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
3. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
4. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
5. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
6. file:///tmp/Signature_files/filelist.xml
7. file:///tmp/Signature_files/editdata.mso
8. file:///tmp/Signature_files/themedata.thmx
9. file:///tmp/Signature_files/colorschememapping.xml
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