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John Luke
[FYI request #34692 email]
1 July 2026
Tēnā koe John
OIA: GEMS-48151 – Appointment to the Board of the Tertiary Education
Commission
Thank you for your email to Hon Penny Simmonds, Minister for Tertiary Education,
on 13 May 2026. As you are aware, on 14 May 2026, the Minister’s office transferred
your request to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry). The request is as follows:
I noted, Appointment to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2026-
go2298__;!!Asq5-8xVch3Reg!rYyvC_K6rV3MdPT12zhEOeVW
fUaR8pLkq2r68I0JJrFpxHYXuSS0yYpf3ZLlR4ZhM5ciZikWOtkQKsTAtZ3f
X_iZqkKjjsCT8QHLyym_CS-yYw$
1. How you called for public nomination and on what platform you have call
for public nominations e.g. govt.jobs website.
2. A copy of your ad as well and pay rate.
3. How many applications you have received for each of the role from the
public and how many you have received from other nominating agencies
such as TPK or Ministry of women etc for your role.
4. How many you have shortlisted and how many you have interviewed.
5. I request to view the appointment letter if there is one sent to the Michelle
Elizabeth Findlater. I am happy for you to remove any relevant personal
information.
6. Besides meeting fees, do they receive any other benefits, such as expense
reimbursement (If so, may I request to view your expense reimbursement
policy in relation to your board member), a laptop, ID card, phone, or
similar provisions?
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Regarding
parts one and two of your request, the Minister’s intention to make
appointments to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) was
Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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published across late 2025 and early 2026. This information was provided to you in
our response of 26 February 2026
[GEMS-46635 refers], alongside the
advertisement and pay rate. Please refer to the Appendix of that response for further
details.
In response to
parts three and four of your request, I can confirm that a total of
seven candidates were identified through an Expressions of Interest (EoI) process,
and two candidates were identified by Hon Penny Simmonds. All candidates were
shortlisted and considered, and two were interviewed. A nominating agency
endorsed two of the candidates who submitted expressions of interest.
In our February 2026 response, we advised that there were two vacancies on the
Board. Decisions have since been made on both appointments. In response to
parts
five and six of your request, and in the interests of transparency, we are releasing
both appointment letters in part as
Appendix A, for Scott Haines JP and Michelle
Findlater, with some information withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect
the privacy of natural persons.
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.
Both appointments were announced via
Gazette notices, as follows:
• Scott Haines JP appointed on 10 March:
https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2026-
go1333.
• Michelle Findlater appointed on 29 April
: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2026-
go2298.
As noted in the letters of appointment, Board members are entitled to be paid
‘reasonable and actual’ expenses to attend meetings and perform their duties and
responsibilities as Board members.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review
my decision on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do
this by writing to [email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman,
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Jennifer Heersping
Director, Monitoring and Appointments
Te Pou Kaupapahere | Policy
education.govt.nz
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OIA: GEMS-48151
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