18 December 2019
Thomas Harvey
[FYI request #11615 email]
Tēnā koe e Thomas
I refer to your request of 6 November 2019, pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982
(OIA), seeking:
“all information you hold in a ministerial capacity regarding the interpretation or potential
amendment of the provisions of section 168A of the Land Transport Act 1998”.
Your request has been interpreted as information contained in documents or emails
(documents) received by my Office from the date I was appointed Associate Minister of
Transport to the date of your request (6 November 2019).
Seventeen documents have been identified as being in scope. I have assessed these as
follows:
four documents are already available online on the webpages of the Regulatory
Review Committee. The web links to these documents are contained in the
attached table
three documents are being released to you in full
five have been withheld in full under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the OIA, as these are
still under active consideration
three documents are being released to you with certain information withheld
under one or both of the following sections of the OIA:
o
section 9(2)(a), which relates to the protection of privacy of natural persons
o
section 9(2)(f)(iv), which relates to maintaining the constitutional conventions
for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by
Ministers of the Crown and officials.
two documents are being released to you with redactions to exclude content that
is out of scope of your OIA request.
I have excluded documents that dealt with the administrative process by which Waka Kotahi
NZ Transport Agency has declared certain vehicles not to be motor vehicles in the past. This
exclusion is on the grounds that the documents focused on the interpretation of section 41 of
the Legislation Act 2012 rather than on the interpretation of s168A.
In regard to the information that has been withheld under section 9 of the OIA, I do not think
there are any countervailing considerations that make it desirable, in the public interest, to
make the information available.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the OIA to make a complaint about the withholding
of information to the Ombudsman at
[email address]
Nāku noa, nā
Hon Julie Anne Genter
Associate Minister of Transport