I make a request under the Official Information Act 1982. This is a new request.

It concerns information DPMC withheld in its response of 19 June 2025 to a previous request, reference OIA-2024/25-0888, published at https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/f.... I was not the requester in that matter. The documents below are identified by reference to that published response, so they should be readily locatable.

Information requested

1. The emails exchanged in confidence as part of the process to formulate advice, and the draft talking points, for the announcement to the media on 11 May 2025 that the Minister of Education, Hon Erica Stanford, would be leading the government work investigating possible restrictions on access to social media by young people. These were withheld in full under sections 6(a), 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i) in OIA-2024/25-0888.

2. The briefings provided by DPMC's Policy Advisory Group to the Prime Minister identified as relevant in OIA-2024/25-0888, withheld in their entirety under sections 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i).

3. The information redacted from the covering emails released as Item 1 of OIA-2024/25-0888 (“RE: Copy of Draft Bill”, 29 April 2025, between the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff and DPMC's Policy Advisory Group) under sections 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i).

4. Any advice, briefing, comment or assessment prepared by DPMC concerning the draft Member's Bill titled Social Media (Age Appropriate Users) Bill, including any advice on its content, feasibility, or the policy process for taking it forward.

5. Any briefing, aide-mémoire, talking points, meeting record, file note or advice held by DPMC concerning a proposal to restrict or age-restrict social media access for persons under 16, or concerning the Children's Online Safety Society, B416, or the Before16 Charitable Trust, for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. (My earlier request to DPMC covered 2025 onwards only; this item covers the preceding year.)

Search terms

To assist, I ask that searches include all of the following names, which refer to the same initiative or its representatives: “B416”, “Before16”, “Before 16”, “Before16 Charitable Trust”, and “Children's Online Safety Society”. I note that the aide-mémoire provided to the Prime Minister on 17 April 2025 was sent under the name Children's Online Safety Society rather than B416, so a search confined to “B416” would not capture it. I also ask that searches include Cecilia Robinson, Anna Mowbray, Anna Curzon, Blair Knight, Malindi MacLean, Nicole Green, Dr Samantha Marsh, Dr Maneesh Deva, and Holly Brooker (credited as the source of Appendix 3 to the aide-mémoire, in connection with “Makes Sense”).

Public interest and the withholding grounds

Sections 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i) are both subject to the public interest test in section 9(1), and the balance has materially changed since June 2025:

– More than a year has passed since the advice was tendered and the announcement made.
– The policy is no longer under consideration but public: the Government announced the work programme, the Prime Minister publicly proposed restricting under-16 access, and legislation has since been introduced and considered by select committee. The confidentiality of advice and the protection of free and frank expression carry less weight once the decision has been taken and announced.
– The public interest in understanding how this policy was developed is high. The published record shows an aide-mémoire from an advocacy organisation reaching the Prime Minister on 17 April 2025, being forwarded to officials with the instruction that the Prime Minister “will be keen to respond to this – could we please work something up?”, a draft Member's Bill being provided to officials on 29 April, and the policy being announced within weeks. Where an organised group lobbying to shape legislation appears to have influenced the development of a Government policy, the public interest in seeing the advice that shaped it is significant.
– Where any individual's personal contact details appear, I ask that they be redacted under section 9(2)(a) rather than used to withhold whole documents.

On section 6(a): I note this ground is not subject to the public interest test, and that it was applied to emails and draft talking points concerning a domestic announcement about which Minister would lead a domestic work programme. If section 6(a) is relied on again, please identify specifically which information attracts it and explain how the security or defence of New Zealand, or its international relations, would be prejudiced, as section 19 requires. If section 6(a) applies to only part of the material, please release the balance under section 17.

Format and process

I am content to receive documents electronically. Where a document is partially withholdable, please release the remainder with redactions clearly marked and the specific ground identified per redaction, as section 19 requires.

If any part of this request is considered too broad, please contact me to refine it under section 18B rather than refusing it. If any part is more closely connected with the functions of another agency, please transfer that specific part under section 14 and notify me of what was transferred, to whom, and why.

I look forward to your response within 20 working days.