15 June 2026
26-OIAD-01331
John Luke
[email address]
Tēnā koe John
Thank you for your email of 16 May 2026 requesting the following under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) of the Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry):
I noted you have recently called for appointment for the following:
Waikato River Authority closed- 13 May 2026
May I ask how you called for public nomination and on what platform you have call
for public nominations e.g. govt.jobs website. A copy of your ad and pay rate as well.
Also, 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.
How many you have shortlisted and how many you have interviewed.
Also, can I request to view the appointment letter if there is one sent to the previous
appointee. I am happy for you to remove any relevant personal information.
How many vacancy for each board your are looking to fill for this round.
I have identified two documents in scope of your request.
A copy of the position description, which was used to inform advertising for the position on the
Waikato River Authority (WRA) Board, is being released to you in full. This document includes
the pay rate. The Minister responsible for this process is reviewing fees alongside this
appointment process, in line with the update
d Cabinet Fees Framework.
Please note that the date the advertising closed was amended to 18 May 2026, to provide for
2 weeks advertising time.
I am releasing a previous letter of appointment to you in part, with some information withheld
under section 9(2)(a) of the Act to protect the privacy of natural persons.
In terms of section 9(1) of the Act, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the withholding of
information in this request is not outweighed by other considerations that render it desirable
to make the information available in the public interest.
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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Call for nominations
On 4 May 2026 the Ministry called for nominations, via the following channels:
• The Ministry for the Environment websi
te (https://environment.govt.nz/) • SEEK New Zealand website
(https://nz.seek.com) • NZ Government Jobs website
(https://jobs.govt.nz/) • Emails to the nominating agencies:
o Ministry for Women
o Te Puni Kōkiri
o Ministry for Pacific Peoples
o Ministry for Ethnic Communities
o Ministry of Disabled People.
The Minister for RMA Reform also sought nominations from the Minister of Finance, Local
Government, Māori Development and the territorial authorities listed in schedule 6, section 2
(1)(g) of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010.
Nominations closed on 18 May.
All five Crown appointments are under consideration.
I am unable to provide information relating to how many applications the Ministry has received,
shortlisting or interview details as the appointment process is still underway. This information
is being withheld under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, to maintain the constitutional conventions
for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown
and officials.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Office of the Ombudsman of
my decisions relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The
relevant details can be found a
t: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Please note that due to the public interest in our work, the Ministry publishes responses to
requests for official information shortly after the response has been sent on our website at:
https://environment.govt.nz/about-us/official-information-act-requests/. If you have any
queries about this, please feel free to contact our Ministerial Services team at:
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Nicole Were
Manager – Governance
Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao
PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143 | Freephone 0800 499 700 | environment.govt.nz
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