Dear Minister for ACC,

Please provide me with the following information under the OIA:

1) Documented history of the inception of the ACC's Clinical Advisory Panel (CAP) explaining when, how and why it was started, etc.

2) All policies, procedures, guidelines, rules and similar documents pertaining to the subject of the ACC's Clinical Advisory Panel (CAP).

Yours faithfully,

Lee M.

Dear Government Services,

Section 16(2) of the OIA requires you to make the information available in the way preferred by the personal requesting it, and my preferred way is patently obviously through the FYI website. I therefore require you to provide me with the requested information here.

Yours sincerely,

Lee M.

Dear ACC Government Services and Mr David O'Riley at ACC's Wellington Central Branch

I refer to the written and signed authority provided by my wife and copied to the ACC and its lawyers that empowers me to communicate with both aforementioned bodies on her behalf.

I have witnessed over a period of more than 4 years how often the ACC has acted frivolously and vexatiously in communicating with my wife and in particular regard to her Official Information and Privacy Act requests. That you are well aware of the negative effects this has had on her yet have done this once again is unsurprising but reprehensible.

In relation to the information request under discussion S.16(3) of the Official Information Act states :

"Where the information is not provided in the way preferred by the person requesting it, the department or Minister of the Crown or organisation shall, subject to section 10, give to that person—
(a)
the reason for not providing the information in that way; and
(b)
if that person so requests, the grounds in support of that reason, unless the giving of those grounds would itself prejudice the interests protected by section 6 or section 7 or section 9 and (in the case of the interests protected by section 9) there is no countervailing public interest".

I am requesting under the authority provided by my wife and copied to the ACC and its lawyers that you give me :
a) the reason for not providing the requested information in the preferred way
b) the grounds in support of that reason.

You have breached the Official Information Act by refusing to recognise and respect my wife's legislated right at S.16(2) to have the ACC provide the requested information in the way preferred by her, and which is obviously through the FYI forum. Simultaneously you have disrespected and breached my wife's right to privacy by way of you writing on this public forum that the ACC has her on a "communication plan". Since the consequential harm in terms of embarrassment and humiliation has already been done I bring to your attention through this forum in response that the revised "communication plan" does not apply to this particular Official Information request because it was made on the 20th of September 2016 and the "communication plan" was only updated on the 21st of October 2016 (which is the same date of your reply posted at this forum). Crucially the aforementioned letter was collected by me on my wife's behalf on Saturday the 29th of October 2016 from NZ Couriers.

Since the earlier "communication plan" was in effect at the time my wife made the information request and she had not yet received the updated "communication plan" when you posted your reply at this forum on the 21st of October 2016 it is the conditions of the former not the latter "communication plan" that apply to this particular request.

That you would seek to impose conditions retrospectively is not only unfair and unreasonable but also confirmation of the outrageous lengths that the ACC is willing and does go to in order to frustrate and annoy information requesters.

Updating the "communication plan" to include Official Information and Privacy Act requests was also a frivolous and vexatious response to my wife's valid and legitimate Official Information Act requests posted at FYI most recently, and it is felt that this was deliberately done to hide the ACC;s responses from public view..

My wife has obtained a supportive letter from FYI that confirms she does not have any ability to post any information at this forum that the ACC provides by post. In this communication FYI wrote in relation to S.16(2) of the Official Information Act : "Our position is that this section means our users are almost always entitled to receive their responses back through the FYI system if that is what they prefer. (We also consider that this preference is implicit in all FYI.org.nz requests, as that is the main reason to use our site.)"

As I will be complaining to the Ombudsman on my wife's behalf in due course I am requesting that you reply to the abovementioned further information request as a matter of urgency for the aforementioned reason.

Yours sincerely,

Husband of Lee M.