45 Pipitea Street
21 December 2020
Wel ington
Phone 0800 25 78 87
dia.govt.nz
G S
[FYI request #14108 email]
Tēnā koe G S
Your Official Information Act request, reference OIA20/21-0275
Thank you for your email of 11 November 2020 requesting the fol owing information under
the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
•
any advice provided to the Minister of Local Government from the 2017 election
through to today on Māori wards in local government; and
•
any internal policy development documents created since the 2017 election through
to today on Māori wards in local government.”
Your request captures 13 documents concerned with providing or developing advice on
Māori wards in local government. A list of these documents is attached as
Appendix A. Of
the 13 documents, I am releasing 12 documents to you in full or in part.
Work on Māori wards in local government is on-going, and final policy decisions have not
been made. I am therefore withholding one of the 13 documents in full under section
9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act – to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by ministers and
officials.
Some information has also been omitted as it fal s outside the scope of your request.
As is required by section 9(1) of the Act, I have considered whether the grounds for
withholding information from the documents provided with this response are outweighed
by other considerations which would make it desirable, in the public interest, to make that
information available. In this instance, I do not consider that to be the case.
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the Act, to seek an investigation and review of
this decision by the Office of the Ombudsman. The postal address of the Office of the
Ombudsman is PO Box 10152, Wel ington. Alternatively, you can phone 0800 802 602 or
email [email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Anita Balakrishnan
Director I Tumuaki, Ministerial Advice, Monitoring, and Operations
Appendix A: Documents for OIA request
Key: W = Withhold in full; P = Release in part; R = Release in full
# Name of document
Document
Release Sections under the Act
date
or
withhold
1. Information Briefing: Māori representation in Local
5 December
R
Government, Māori wards, and the Independent Māori
2017
Statutory Board
2. Briefing: Auckland Council representation and Māori
29 January
R
wards
2018
3. Briefing: Draft Cabinet paper: Modernising voting and
2 March 2018 R
improvements to the regulatory framework for local
elections
4. Regulatory Impact Analysis: Proposal to remove
5 March 2018 R
membership requirement on Auckland Council
5. Briefing: Final draft Cabinet paper – Modernising voting
8 March 2018 R
and improvements to the regulatory framework for local
elections
6. Briefing: Working paper on the Auckland Council
15 March
R
membership requirement
2018
7. Briefing: Final draft Cabinet paper – Modernising voting
15 March
R
and improvements to the regulatory framework for local 2018
elections
8. Briefing: Māori electoral representation on local councils 27 March
R
2018
9. Briefing: Māori representation on Environment
27 March
R
Canterbury
2018
# Name of document
Document
Release Sections under the Act
date
or
withhold
10. Briefing: Final Cabinet Paper: Mechanisms for Māori
28 May 2018 R
participation in local government
11. A3: Policy Development – Appendix A: Potential future
28 May 2018 R
directions for Māori representation and participation in
local government
12. Policy Development – Updated pol tables
20 August
R
2019
13. Policy development - Māori ward options
6 November
W
9(2)(f)(iv) – to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by
2020
ministers and officials.
Document Outline