Matt Grey
Conservation House
18 Manners Street,
fyi-request-34858-
Te Aro, Wellington, 6011
[email address]
doc.govt.nz
Ref: OIAD-9249
02 July 2026
Tēnā koe Matt
Thank you for your request to the Department of Conservation, received on 05 June 2026, in
which you asked for:
‘All official information, advice, and communications held by your office regarding the
Conservation Amendment Bil (also referred to as proposals for Modernising Conservation
Land Management).
To ensure the completeness of this request, please include, but do not limit the scope to:
1. Formal Advice: Al briefings, memos, reports, notes, aides-mémoire, and draft versions
provided to Minister Potaka (or from his office to departmental officials) regarding this Bil
and its policy proposals.
2. Cabinet and Committee Documentation: Al draft and final Cabinet papers, Cabinet
Committee papers (including but not limited to the Cabinet Economic Policy Committee),
minutes, talking points, and annotated agendas related to these proposals’.
We have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
You can find Cabinet papers and associated advice relating to the Conservation Amendment
Bill (the Bil ) on the
Modernising conservation land management page and the
OIA responses
and proactive releases 2026 page. This information covers the period up until the end of 2025.
Some information has been withheld under one or more of the following sections of the OIA, as
applicable:
• Section 9(2)(a) - Protect the privacy of natural persons.
• Section 9(2)(f)(iv) - Maintain the constitutional convention protecting the confidentiality of
advice tendered by Ministers and officials.
• Section 9 (2)(g)(i) - Maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and
frank expression of opinions by, between, or to, Ministers, officers and employees of a
Department or members of an organisation, in the course of their duty, or through the
protection of any of them from improper pressure or harassment.
• Section 9(2)(h) – Maintain legal professional privilege.
• Section 9(2)(i) - Protect information, where making it available would be likely to
unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied, or who is
the subject of, the information.
• Section 9(2)(j) - Enable a Minister or any public service agency or organisation holding
the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including
commercial and industrial negotiations).
Further Cabinet papers and associated advice relating to the Bil will soon be publicly available
on the
OIA responses and proactive releases page.
In addition, you can find al communications between the Department and the office of the
Minister of Conservation regarding the purpose-related changes to the Conservation Act, plus
all official information held about these changes on the
OIA responses and proactive releases
page.
Some information has been withheld under one or more of the following sections of the OIA, as
applicable:
• Section 9(2)(a) - Protect the privacy of natural persons.
• Section 9(f)(i ) – Maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect
collective and individual ministerial responsibility.
• Section 9(2)(f)(iv) - Maintain the constitutional convention protecting the confidentiality of
advice tendered by Ministers and officials.
• Section 9 (2)(g)(i) - Maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and
frank expression of opinions by, between, or to, Ministers, officers and employees of a
Department or members of an organisation.
• Section 9(2)(h) – Maintain legal professional privilege.
I am therefore refusing this part of your request under s18(d) of the Official Information Act, as
the information is or wil soon be publicly available.
Unfortunately, we are also refusing the part of your request relating to all remaining
communications held by the Department about the Bil . The information you are referencing
covers a significant work programme spanning several years and the information in scope could
be held across all DOC staff. For these reasons it cannot be made available for release without
substantial research and collation (section 18(f) of the OIA refers).
If you are able to provide more clarity on the specific types of communications sought (for
example, emails between the policy team and the office of the Minister of Conservation about
the Conservation Amendment Bil ), we may be able to meet the requirements of a such a
request.
You are entitled to seek an investigation and review of my decision by writing to an Ombudsman
as provided by section 28(3) of the Official Information Act.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) may be published on the
Department’s website.
Nāku noa, nā
Angela Bell
Acting Director Policy
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
2
