Kia ora David,

  

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), received by the Ministry of Health - Manatû Hauora on 19 June 2026.
You requested:

 

"This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.

The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.

Time period
Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:
1 January 2025 to the date of your response.

Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.

Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process

Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.

Please include, but do not limit the search to:
1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks;
2. Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers,
Cabinet committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material;
3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file notes, ministerial
advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters, text messages,
Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications;
4. advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser;
5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory considerations, skills
matrix, diversity considerations, conflict-of-interest checks, appointment
principles or merit assessment applied to these appointments or
non-reappointments;
6. any record of the Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns,
instructions, expectations or decision rationale concerning the above
individuals;
7. correspondence between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the
Ministry of Health and MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council
membership, Chair or Deputy Chair roles, succession planning or
reappointment.

Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership
Please provide all official information recording, describing or
evidencing the reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not
reappointed, or why their terms concluded without continuation in their
previous leadership roles.

Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:
1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Mâori work;
2. MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Mâori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety;
3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically, ideologically,
outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with Government
priorities;
4. whether the Minister or officials considered MCNZ’s independence from
Government, professional independence, statutory functions or
standard-setting role;
5. whether any concern was raised about the risk of actual or perceived
political interference in a responsible authority under the Health
Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.

Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:

Medical Council appointments or reappointments;
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence or hauora Mâori work;
responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators;
HPCA reform and regulator direction powers.

For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:
1. date;
2. attendees;
3. agenda;
4. minutes or notes;
5. briefing material;
6. follow-up actions;
7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.

Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.

Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers
Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the date of
your response relating to the relationship between the Medical Council
appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including but not
limited to:
1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators;
2. advice on the independence of responsible authorities under the HPCA
Act;
3. advice on risks of politicisation, actual or perceived interference,
regulatory capture, loss of professional independence or loss of public
confidence;
4. advice on whether clinical, technical, professional, cultural
competence, ethical or cultural safety standard-setting should remain with
responsible authorities rather than Ministers;
5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers could be
used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible authority’s
professional or regulatory stance;
6. advice on how Te Tiriti, hauora Mâori, health equity, cultural
competence or cultural safety obligations interact with HPCA reform and
responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.

Part 5 — Public statements and media lines

Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:
1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026;
2. the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Mâori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus;
3. any media response to allegations or concerns of political interference
in MCNZ;
4. any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained;
5. any internal review of whether public comments about MCNZ were
accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with the Minister’s statutory
role.

Part 6 — Searches requested
Please search information held by:
1. the Minister of Health;
2. the Minister’s office;
3. the Ministry of Health;
4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group;
5. appointments, governance or board-appointments teams;
6. legal teams;
7. officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill;
8. officials involved in MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority
oversight;
9. any relevant shared drives, document-management systems, email
accounts, ministerial correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message
records or calendar systems.

Please use search terms including, but not limited to:
“Medical Council”
“MCNZ”
“Rachelle Love”
“Simon Watt”
“Kenneth Clark”
“Ken Clark”
“Ming-Chun Wu”
“Chair”
“Deputy Chair”
“reappointment”
“non-reappointment”
“appointment”
“responsible authority”
“HPCA”
“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”
“cultural safety”
“cultural competence”
“hauora Mâori”
“Mâori health”
“Te Tiriti”
“ideological”
“politics”
“political”
“interference”
“independence”
“direction powers”
“Putting Patients First”

Part 7 — Format requested
Please provide the information electronically, preferably as searchable
PDFs, Word documents, Excel/CSV files or original electronic files where
available.

Please preserve document titles, dates, authors, recipients and
attachments.

Where emails are released, please include the full email chain and
attachments unless there is a lawful basis to withhold specific material.

Where documents are withheld in full or in part, please provide a schedule
identifying:
1. document title or description;
2. date;
3. author or originating agency;
4. recipient;
5. withholding ground relied on;
6. whether the public-interest test was considered;
7. whether partial release was considered.

Part 8 — Public interest
There is a strong public interest in release because the information
concerns:
1. the independence and accountability of a statutory professional
regulator;
2. the exercise of ministerial appointment powers;
3. public confidence in medical regulation;
4. the relationship between ministerial policy direction and professional
standard-setting;
5. Mâori health, cultural competence, cultural safety and Te
Tiriti-related regulatory functions;
6. transparency around the Government’s proposed reforms to health
workforce regulation;
7. public trust in the health system."
 

The reference number for your request is H2026084428. We will endeavour to
respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than
20 July 2026 being 20 working days after the day your request was
received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

If you have any queries regarding your request, please feel free to
contact the OIA Services Team on [1][email address]. If any
additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account. 

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [2][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.

 

 

Ngâ mihi, 

 

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora

 

M[3]inistry of Health information releases

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...

Kia ora David, 
Thank you for your request for official information, received on 19 June
2026 for:
This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.
The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.
Time period
Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:
1 January 2025 to the date of your response.
Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.
Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process
Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.
Please include, but do not limit the search to:
1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks;
2. Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers,
Cabinet committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material;
3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file notes, ministerial
advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters, text messages,
Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications;
4. advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser;
5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory considerations, skills
matrix, diversity considerations, conflict-of-interest checks, appointment
principles or merit assessment applied to these appointments or
non-reappointments;
6. any record of the Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns,
instructions, expectations or decision rationale concerning the above
individuals;
7. correspondence between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the
Ministry of Health and MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council
membership, Chair or Deputy Chair roles, succession planning or
reappointment.
Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership
Please provide all official information recording, describing or
evidencing the reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not
reappointed, or why their terms concluded without continuation in their
previous leadership roles.
Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:
1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Mâori work;
2. MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Mâori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety;
3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically, ideologically,
outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with Government
priorities;
4. whether the Minister or officials considered MCNZ’s independence from
Government, professional independence, statutory functions or
standard-setting role;
5. whether any concern was raised about the risk of actual or perceived
political interference in a responsible authority under the Health
Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.
Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:
Medical Council appointments or reappointments;
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence or hauora Mâori work;
responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators;
HPCA reform and regulator direction powers.
For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:
1. date;
2. attendees;
3. agenda;
4. minutes or notes;
5. briefing material;
6. follow-up actions;
7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.
Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.
Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers
Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the date of
your response relating to the relationship between the Medical Council
appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including but not
limited to:
1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators;
2. advice on the independence of responsible authorities under the HPCA
Act;
3. advice on risks of politicisation, actual or perceived interference,
regulatory capture, loss of professional independence or loss of public
confidence;
4. advice on whether clinical, technical, professional, cultural
competence, ethical or cultural safety standard-setting should remain with
responsible authorities rather than Ministers;
5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers could be
used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible authority’s
professional or regulatory stance;
6. advice on how Te Tiriti, hauora Mâori, health equity, cultural
competence or cultural safety obligations interact with HPCA reform and
responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.
Part 5 — Public statements and media lines
Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:
1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026;
2. the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Mâori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus;
3. any media response to allegations or concerns of political interference
in MCNZ;
4. any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained;
5. any internal review of whether public comments about MCNZ were
accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with the Minister’s statutory
role.
Part 6 — Searches requested
Please search information held by:
1. the Minister of Health;
2. the Minister’s office;
3. the Ministry of Health;
4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group;
5. appointments, governance or board-appointments teams;
6. legal teams;
7. officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill;
8. officials involved in MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority
oversight;
9. any relevant shared drives, document-management systems, email
accounts, ministerial correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message
records or calendar systems.
Please use search terms including, but not limited to:
“Medical Council”
“MCNZ”
“Rachelle Love”
“Simon Watt”
“Kenneth Clark”
“Ken Clark”
“Ming-Chun Wu”
“Chair”
“Deputy Chair”
“reappointment”
“non-reappointment”
“appointment”
“responsible authority”
“HPCA”
“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”
“cultural safety”
“cultural competence”
“hauora Mâori”
“Mâori health”
“Te Tiriti”
“ideological”
“politics”
“political”
“interference”
“independence”
“direction powers”
“Putting Patients First”
We are contacting you in accordance with section 18B of the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) as your request, as it is currently worded,
is for a very large volume of information. Your request may be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.
In order to provide you with information sooner and in order to work
within a more manageable request, are you happy to substantially refine
part 6 of your request.
Part 6 of your request asks the Ministry to conduct a search for any
information (briefings, emails, advice, records etc.) which contain one of
the key words listed. You have provided a list of 27 frequently used words
that would likely return thousands of potential results for each keyword.
Each search result would have to be manually assessed to determine its
relevance to your request.
Given how detailed parts 1-5 of your request are, any relevant information
that would be in scope of your intended interests in regard to question 6
will be captured in the response to questions 1-5. Accordingly, the
Ministry asks that you either substantially refine question 6, or it will
be refused under section 18(f) of the Act. 
Please respond by EOD 2 July so that we can consider your refinement in
our response to your request.
Please note, under section 15 of the Act, any clarification or amendments
made to a request within seven days after the date it is received, that
request may be treated as a new request, and the time limit for the
response restarts.
We look forward to your response. 
Ngâ mihi,

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora

show quoted sections

Kia ora David,
Just following up on the below - are you able to substantially refine part
6 of your request?
Please let us know as soon as possible.
Ngâ mihi,

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora

show quoted sections

Kia ora,
Thank you for your request for official information received on 19 June
2026 requesting:
This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.
The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.
Time period
Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:
1 January 2025 to the date of your response.
Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.
Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process
Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.
Please include, but do not limit the search to:
1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks;
2. Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers,
Cabinet committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material;
3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file notes, ministerial
advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters, text messages,
Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications;
4. advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser;
5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory considerations, skills
matrix, diversity considerations, conflict-of-interest checks, appointment
principles or merit assessment applied to these appointments or
non-reappointments;
6. any record of the Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns,
instructions, expectations or decision rationale concerning the above
individuals;
7. correspondence between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the
Ministry of Health and MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council
membership, Chair or Deputy Chair roles, succession planning or
reappointment.
Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership
Please provide all official information recording, describing or
evidencing the reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not
reappointed, or why their terms concluded without continuation in their
previous leadership roles.
Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:
1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Mâori work;
2. MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Mâori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety;
3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically, ideologically,
outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with Government
priorities;
4. whether the Minister or officials considered MCNZ’s independence from
Government, professional independence, statutory functions or
standard-setting role;
5. whether any concern was raised about the risk of actual or perceived
political interference in a responsible authority under the Health
Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.
Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:
Medical Council appointments or reappointments;
Dr Rachelle Love;
Simon Watt;
Dr Kenneth Clark;
Ms Ming-Chun Wu;
MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence or hauora Mâori work;
responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators;
HPCA reform and regulator direction powers.
For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:
1. date;
2. attendees;
3. agenda;
4. minutes or notes;
5. briefing material;
6. follow-up actions;
7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.
Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.
Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers
Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the date of
your response relating to the relationship between the Medical Council
appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including but not
limited to:
1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators;
2. advice on the independence of responsible authorities under the HPCA
Act;
3. advice on risks of politicisation, actual or perceived interference,
regulatory capture, loss of professional independence or loss of public
confidence;
4. advice on whether clinical, technical, professional, cultural
competence, ethical or cultural safety standard-setting should remain with
responsible authorities rather than Ministers;
5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers could be
used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible authority’s
professional or regulatory stance;
6. advice on how Te Tiriti, hauora Mâori, health equity, cultural
competence or cultural safety obligations interact with HPCA reform and
responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.
Part 5 — Public statements and media lines
Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:
1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026;
2. the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Mâori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus;
3. any media response to allegations or concerns of political interference
in MCNZ;
4. any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained;
5. any internal review of whether public comments about MCNZ were
accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with the Minister’s statutory
role.
Part 6 — Searches requested
Please search information held by:
1. the Minister of Health;
2. the Minister’s office;
3. the Ministry of Health;
4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group;
5. appointments, governance or board-appointments teams;
6. legal teams;
7. officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill;
8. officials involved in MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority
oversight;
9. any relevant shared drives, document-management systems, email
accounts, ministerial correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message
records or calendar systems.
Please use search terms including, but not limited to:
“Medical Council”
“MCNZ”
“Rachelle Love”
“Simon Watt”
“Kenneth Clark”
“Ken Clark”
“Ming-Chun Wu”
“Chair”
“Deputy Chair”
“reappointment”
“non-reappointment”
“appointment”
“responsible authority”
“HPCA”
“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”
“cultural safety”
“cultural competence”
“hauora Mâori”
“Mâori health”
“Te Tiriti”
“ideological”
“politics”
“political”
“interference”
“independence”
“direction powers”
“Putting Patients First”
Part 7 — Format requested
Please provide the information electronically, preferably as searchable
PDFs, Word documents, Excel/CSV files or original electronic files where
available.
Please preserve document titles, dates, authors, recipients and
attachments.
Where emails are released, please include the full email chain and
attachments unless there is a lawful basis to withhold specific material.
Where documents are withheld in full or in part, please provide a schedule
identifying:
1. document title or description;
2. date;
3. author or originating agency;
4. recipient;
5. withholding ground relied on;
6. whether the public-interest test was considered;
7. whether partial release was considered.
Part 8 — Public interest
There is a strong public interest in release because the information
concerns:
1. the independence and accountability of a statutory professional
regulator;
2. the exercise of ministerial appointment powers;
3. public confidence in medical regulation;
4. the relationship between ministerial policy direction and professional
standard-setting;
5. Mâori health, cultural competence, cultural safety and Te
Tiriti-related regulatory functions;
6. transparency around the Government’s proposed reforms to health
workforce regulation;
7. public trust in the health system
The Ministry of Health has decided to extend the period of time available
to respond to your request under section 15A of the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act) as consultations necessary to make
a decision on the request are such that a proper response to the request cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit. 
You can now expect a response to your request on, or before, 7 August
2026.
You have the right, under section 28 of the Act, to ask the Ombudsman to
review my decision to extend the time available to respond to your
request. 
Ngâ mihi,

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora

show quoted sections