Refugee Detention Information
Joshua Grainger made this Official Information request to Department of Labour
The request was partially successful.
From: Joshua Grainger
Dear Department of Labour,
On the 12th of April I requested from you under the Official Information Act various information related to plans to deal with "boat people." On the 29th of June I received a response (visible at http://fyi.org.nz/request/plans_for_boat...) that gave the names of various documents containing plans for dealing with mass arrivals by sea. I now have a follow up Official Information Act request.
First: I want to thank you for dealing my with my request, I underestimated how many documents would be caught by my request, and I want to thank you in working to attempt to answer my request. Looking at how many documents were captured, I would hate to think how much background information would exist.
Second: the purpose of this follow up request is to request some documents which the titles were given of in my original request. I wish to request:
a) the Refugee Quota Branch, detention manual (document no. 10 in the response to me)
b) the draft MOU between DoL and various agencies to support open immigration detention in the event of a mass arrival (no 11)
c) the report entitled "Mass Arrival of Illegal Immigrants: Compliance Operations Branch Response Plan" (no 3)
Feel free to contact me if you wish me to clarify my request.
Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger
From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
Dear Joshua Grainger,
Please find attached an acknowledgement letter in relation to your recent request.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
Labour Group
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
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From: Sandy Tuhou
Department of Labour
Dear Joshua Grainger
Please find attached a response to your recent OIA request.
Have a lovely day.
Sandy Tuhou
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.
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Alex Harris left an annotation ()
To expand on that: none of the material in question is "advice" (operations manuals and MOUs can't be), it deals with relationships with government bodies rather than commercial enterprises so it can't be commercial, and there's no obvious impact on privacy apart from the names of any officials mentioned (which of course can be redacted).
Which keaves the s6 exclusions, which ought to be able to be dealt with via redactions at appropriate points.
From: Joshua Grainger
Dear Sandy Tuhou,
Thank you very much for your reply. I have a few follow up requests and questions:
First: can I please request a breakdown for the three documents I requested which withholding provisions apply to each? This is because I wish to complain to the Ombudsmen, and knowing which provisions apply to each document makes it easier.
Second : It was pointed out to me that some reasons for withholding where rather peculiar: none of the material in question seems to be "advice" (operations manuals and MOUs can't be), it deals with relationships with government bodies rather than commercial enterprises so it can't be commercial, and there's no obvious impact on privacy apart from the names of any officials mentioned (which of course can be redacted). I was wondering if you could expand on the reasons why these particular declining provisons were applied: this would help in informing my complaint to the Ombudsmen, so I can respond to the reasons why it was declined.
Finally, please can I request under the Official Information Act all documents related to my request, including *all* emails, draft responses, and other such correspondence. I recognize that this request may take the longest, and so if this request is holding up responses to my other points, can the answer to this be dealt with in a seperate email?
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
Joshua Grainger left an annotation ()
Cheers Alex, thanks for your assistance. As you can see, I used your language in the follow up request in order to try to figure out what was going on.
I suspect that there maybe something politically risky in one of those documents, and an instruction from the Minister's office has came down urging them to decline.
From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
Dear Mr Grainger
Parts 1 and 2 of your email have been passed to the relevant workgroup to respond to. Part 3 will be acknowledged separately as a new request and a formal acknowledgement letter will follow shortly.
Regards
Liz McMillan
Manager, Government Executive and Ministerial Support
Labour Group, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
56 The Terrace | PO Box 3705 | Wellington | New Zealand
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Grainger [mailto:[OIA #372 email]]
Sent: Monday, 30 July 2012 12:36 p.m.
To: Sandy Tuhou
Subject: Re: Your recent OIA request
Dear Sandy Tuhou,
Thank you very much for your reply. I have a few follow up requests
and questions:
First: can I please request a breakdown for the three documents I
requested which withholding provisions apply to each? This is
because I wish to complain to the Ombudsmen, and knowing which
provisions apply to each document makes it easier.
Second : It was pointed out to me that some reasons for withholding
where rather peculiar: none of the material in question seems to be
"advice" (operations manuals and MOUs can't be), it deals with
relationships with government bodies rather than commercial
enterprises so it can't be commercial, and there's no obvious
impact on privacy apart from the names of any officials mentioned
(which of course can be redacted). I was wondering if you could
expand on the reasons why these particular declining provisons were
applied: this would help in informing my complaint to the
Ombudsmen, so I can respond to the reasons why it was declined.
Finally, please can I request under the Official Information Act
all documents related to my request, including *all* emails, draft
responses, and other such correspondence. I recognize that this
request may take the longest, and so if this request is holding up
responses to my other points, can the answer to this be dealt with
in a seperate email?
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
-----Original Message-----
Dear Joshua Grainger
Please find attached a response to your recent OIA request.
Have a lovely day.
Sandy Tuhou
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[OIA #372 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
http://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
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From: Sandy Tuhou
Department of Labour
Dear Joshua Grainger
Please find attached an acknowledgement to your recent OIA request.
Have a lovely day.
Sandy Tuhou
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.
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From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
1203955 OIA Response pt1 Joshua Grainger.pdf
245K
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1203955 OIA Response pt2 Joshua Grainger.pdf
622K
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Dear Joshua Grainger,
Please find attached the response in relation to your recent request.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
Labour Group
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
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From: Joshua Grainger
Dear OIA GEMS,
I would just like to check on the status of my follow up request (acknowledged in letter file no 12/03955), which was received on the 30th of June. According to the Ombudsmen's calculator the deadline for responding to this request passed on the 27th of August, and I have not received any response. Can you please advise me when I will be receiving one?
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
1203955 OIA Response pt1 Joshua Grainger.pdf
245K
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View as HTML
1203955 OIA Response pt2 Joshua Grainger.pdf
622K
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Kia ora Joshua,
I'm slightly confused. You're responding to the email that was sent to you containing your response. Was there a problem with the attachments, or do you feel your request wasn't responded to?
In case there was a problem with the attachments, I have again attached the pdfs for you.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Grainger [mailto:[OIA #372 email]]
Sent: Sunday, 2 September 2012 10:08 p.m.
To: OIA GEMS
Subject: Re: 1203955 - OIA - Response - Joshua Grainger
Dear OIA GEMS,
I would just like to check on the status of my follow up request
(acknowledged in letter file no 12/03955), which was received on
the 30th of June. According to the Ombudsmen's calculator the
deadline for responding to this request passed on the 27th of
August, and I have not received any response. Can you please advise
me when I will be receiving one?
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
-----Original Message-----
Dear Joshua Grainger,
Please find attached the response in relation to your recent
request.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
Labour Group
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[OIA #372 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
http://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
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From: Joshua Grainger
Dear OIA GEMS,
Apologies for the confusion Chris. In my follow up I asked three questions. One and two were answered by your recent reply, but I have not yet received the answer to question 3 ("all documents related to my request (num 12/03399), including *all* emails, draft responses, and other such correspondence"). This third request was lodged as a new OIA request and acknowledged in letter letter file no 12/03955.
Apologies if you're not the right person to send this to: all I can see when replying using the FYI website is either the main contact email for the Department of Labour, Sandy Tuhou's email, or the OIA GEMS email. I figured OIA GEMS was the right email to send this to. (along with this I cannot see or change the subject line of the email reply)
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
Kia ora Joshua,
Replying to this email address is easiest, since it's through this address that the Labour group of MBIE currently manages a significant portion of its OIA responsibilities.
The response letter includes the contact information for Andrew Lockhart, who you should contact in regards to this particular part of your request. I have contacted Andrew to let him know that you wish to speak with him regarding your request.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of the Ministry's response by the Ombudsman, whose address for contact purposes is:
The Ombudsman
Office of the Ombudsmen
PO Box 10-152
The Terrace
Wellington 6143
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Grainger [mailto:[OIA #372 email]]
Sent: Monday, 3 September 2012 12:22 p.m.
To: OIA GEMS
Subject: RE: 1203955 - OIA - Response - Joshua Grainger
Dear OIA GEMS,
Apologies for the confusion Chris. In my follow up I asked three
questions. One and two were answered by your recent reply, but I
have not yet received the answer to question 3 ("all documents
related to my request (num 12/03399), including *all* emails, draft
responses, and other such correspondence"). This third request was
lodged as a new OIA request and acknowledged in letter letter file
no 12/03955.
Apologies if you're not the right person to send this to: all I can
see when replying using the FYI website is either the main contact
email for the Department of Labour, Sandy Tuhou's email, or the OIA
GEMS email. I figured OIA GEMS was the right email to send this to.
(along with this I cannot see or change the subject line of the
email reply)
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Grainger
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora Joshua,
I'm slightly confused. You're responding to the email that was sent
to you containing your response. Was there a problem with the
attachments, or do you feel your request wasn't responded to?
In case there was a problem with the attachments, I have again
attached the pdfs for you.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[OIA #372 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
http://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
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From: OIA GEMS
Department of Labour
1203955 OIA Additional Response pt1 Joshua Grainger.pdf
14K
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View as HTML
1203955 OIA Additional Response pt2 Joshua Grainger.pdf
948K
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Dear Joshua Grainger,
Please find attached the response in relation to your recent request.
Regards,
Chris Fletcher
On behalf of
Liz McMillan
Manager
Government Executive and Ministerial Support
Labour Group
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.
hide quoted sections
Alex Harris left an annotation ()
So they decided to call the health & safety appendix to the mass-arrival plan "out of scope" to avoid any substantive response to your request. Despite the fact that you'd specifically requested the report in its entirity.
Dodgy.
Alex Harris left an annotation ()
Also, check the Ministerial consultation / risk assessment on p 50 - 55. On p54 there's some specific information about FYI which is withheld as "free and frank advice". Further down, they note that "The request is from a website known to publish information they receive through OIA requests".
Joshua Grainger left an annotation ()
Interesting things revealed from the doc release include:
* Ministers seem to regard the list of use of FYI as a potential risk in releasing docs under the OIA: page 54. Part of the explanation here was withheld under s9(2)(f)(iv). I may do a follow up under the Privacy Act, which does not have this withholding provision, for an unredacted document.
* Organizations which were consulted with as regards the release of the DoL MOU seem to include: the MoD, MoE, NZDF, DPMC, Dept of Corrections, MoH, MSD, MoJ, District Courts,
* Appendix Six of the Compliance Branch Operation plan is only withheld to protect the names and phone numbers of those who are involved. The Ombudsmen has previously ruled that the withholding of names is alone not enough to justify a refusal on privacy grounds.
* on page 10 the name of another requester of similar information under the OIA is released. Given the effort that went into protecting their staff's names, shouldn't the same effort be applied to protecting other requester's names?
* I appear to be a blogger?
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Alex Harris left an annotation ()
Looking at that, some of those "reasons" look highly dubious, and there's the overriding question of why the material was not provided with redactions, rather than withheld in its entirity.
I suggest taking it to the Ombudsman.
Link to this