Correspondence regarding Prime Minister's visit to China
S. Fitzgerald made this Official Information request to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for S. Fitzgerald to read recent responses and update the status.
From: S. Fitzgerald
Dear Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
I require all correspondence (including but not subject to emails, notes, briefings, texts/messages, and recollections of oral conversations) regarding the NZ Prime Minister's conduct, behaviour, temperament, tone, diplomatic skills, energy levels, frustrations etc during the June 2025 visit to China.
For clarity, I am particularly interested in communications between Mfat staff present on the trip, and between Mfat staff and PMO / DPMC, between Mfat staff and the business/media delegation, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Foreign Office, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Ambassador to NZ, and between Mfat staff and other NZ officials whether they were present in China or not.
Timeframe is 1 June-30 June 2025.
I understand that temporary devices are sometimes provided to staff travelling to China for security purposes, and I note that the OIA still applies to correspondence on these devices so I assume these records have not been destroyed as that would be serious breach of the Act.
Yours faithfully,
S. Fitzgerald
From: ENQUIRIES
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Kia ora,
Thank you for your email.
Please see the below links to ensure you are sending your enquiry to the
correct location.
For all other enquiries that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is
responsible for, you will receive a response in due course.
Immigration, Travel and Visa Enquires:
* New Zealand visas, asylum and other immigrations matters - contact
Immigration New Zealand, by emailing
[1][email address] or visit the Immigration
New Zealand website at: [2]https://www.immigration.govt.nz/ revised
* Visas for other countries and contact details for the foreign
embassies – refer to the relevant foreign representative to New
Zealand. A full list is available at
[3]https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/embassies/.
* Advice for New Zealanders living and travelling overseas – visit Home
| [4]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/
* Consular issues - or if you are a New Zealand citizen overseas needing
assistance, email: [5][email address].
Customs and NZ Suppliers/Companies:
* Bringing goods into New Zealand - visit the New Zealand Customs
website at: [6]www.customs.govt.nz.
* NZ suppliers or companies - visit the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
website at: [7]www.nzte.govt.nz.
Authentication, Citizenship and Passports:
* New Zealand passports - visit the Internal Affairs website at:
[8]www.passports.govt.nz.
* New Zealand citizenship - visit the Internal Affairs website at:
[9]www.dia.govt.nz/New-Zealand-citizenship.
* Authentication of documents and Apostilles - visit the Internal
Affairs website at: [10]www.dia.govt.nz/document-authentication
* To attest fingerprints - visit
[11]https://www.police.govt.nz/faq/having-fi...
MFAT Jobs, Scholarships and Graduate Programme:
* New Zealand Scholarships - email [12][email address]
* MFAT Vacancies - visit our website at:
[13]https://vacancies.mfat.govt.nz/.
* MFAT Graduate Programme - email: [14][email address].
OIA requests
* If you have made a request under the Official Information Act 1982,
the Ministry will be in touch to acknowledge your request and discuss
it further if necessary. [15]Official Information Act requests | New
Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Ngâ mihi
MFAT ENQUIRIES
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatû Aorere
195 Lambton Quay, Private Bag 18901
Wellington 6160
New Zealand
[16]www.mfat.govt.nz | [17]www.safetravel.govt.nz
show quoted sections
From: ENQUIRIES
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[UNCLASSIFIED]
UNCLASSIFIED
Kia ora S Fitzgerald,
Thank you for your OIA request received on 20/08/2025 for:
· All correspondence (including but not subject to emails, notes,
briefings, texts/messages, and recollections of oral conversations)
regarding the NZ Prime Minister's conduct, behaviour, temperament, tone,
diplomatic skills, energy levels, frustrations etc during the June 2025
visit to China.
· Communications between Mfat staff present on the trip, and between
Mfat staff and PMO / DPMC, between Mfat staff and the business/media
delegation, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Foreign Office, between
Mfat staff and the Chinese Ambassador to NZ, and between Mfat staff and
other NZ officials whether they were present in China or not.
This email confirms receipt of your request and advises that we will
respond to it as soon as reasonably practicable, and in terms of the
timeframes and requirements of the OIA.
Please note that our response letter to you (with your personal details
redacted), and any enclosed documents, may be published on the Ministry’s
website.
Ngā mihi
Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere
UNCLASSIFIED
show quoted sections
From: ESD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[UNCLASSIFIED]
UNCLASSIFIED
Tēnā koe S. Fitzgerald,
We are writing concerning your Official Information Act request below, to advise that responding to your request as currently framed would capture small excerpts across a number of much larger documents, of which most of the information would need to be withheld under relevant sections of the OIA.
Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement to refine your request to be for:
A narrative response of all correspondence regarding the NZ Prime Minister's conduct, behaviour, temperament, tone, diplomatic skills, energy levels, frustrations etc during the June 2025 visit to China.
For clarity, I am particularly interested in communications between Mfat staff present on the trip, and between Mfat staff and PMO / DPMC, between Mfat staff and the business/media delegation, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Foreign Office, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Ambassador to NZ, and between Mfat staff and other NZ officials whether they were present in China or not.
Timeframe is 1 June-30 June 2025.
Refining your request this way will enable us to provide you with more information and provide the information in a more timely manner.
Please confirm if you are happy to proceed with the refined request above, by 1 September 2025. If we do not hear from you, we will proceed with your original request.
Please note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response (section 15(1AA) of the OIA refers).
Ngā mihi
Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
show quoted sections
From: ESD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[UNCLASSIFIED]
UNCLASSIFIED
Tēnā koe S. Fitzgerald,
We are writing in regards to your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 20 August 2025 which asks for:
I require all correspondence (including but not subject to emails, notes, briefings, texts/messages, and recollections of oral conversations) regarding the NZ Prime Minister's conduct, behaviour, temperament, tone, diplomatic skills, energy levels, frustrations etc during the June 2025 visit to China.
For clarity, I am particularly interested in communications between Mfat staff present on the trip, and between Mfat staff and PMO / DPMC, between Mfat staff and the business/media delegation, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Foreign Office, between Mfat staff and the Chinese Ambassador to NZ, and between Mfat staff and other NZ officials whether they were present in China or not.
Timeframe is 1 June-30 June 2025.
This email is to advise that we will need to extend the time limit for responding to you by 10 working days, to 1 October 2025. This is because consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time frame (section 15A(1)(b) of the OIA refers)
However, if this process is completed before 1 October 2025, the response will be sent to you as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, you can contact us by email at: DM [email address]. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision by contacting Ombudsman New Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata
Ngā mihi
Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this requestAct on what you've learnt
Similar requests
China wants to help New Zealand recover from Cyclone Gabrielle, including financing, constructing key infrastructure
To Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet by john luke
China trip
To Nanaia Mahuta by James
