14 June 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wel ington 6011
PO Box 805, Wel ington 6140
Phone +64 4 495 7100
G S via FYI.org.nz
dia.govt.nz
Fyi-request-15446-
[email address]
Tēnā koe G S
Your Official Information Act request OIA 20/21-0662
Thank you for your email of 18 May 2021 requesting the fol owing under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
‘…a copy of all work undertaken by DIA on whether or not to require Councils to only
use land value rating.’
As identified by the 21 January 2021 Ministry of Housing and Urban Development proactive
release, the Department of Internal Affairs prepared draft advice for the Minister of Local
Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta, on the issue of land value for rating purposes. The
meeting for which the advice was prepared did not eventuate, and as such the advice was
never finalised. This document has been withheld under section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act, to
maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of
opinions.
On 3 March 2021, the Minister of Local Government attended the 27th Central-Local
Government Forum. As part of the preparation for this event, a wide-ranging briefing was
provided that touched on some of the issues related to land value rating. Attached is the
information that fal s within scope of your request, released as an excerpt. This is pursuant
to section 16(1) of the Act, which provides that where the information requested by any
person is comprised in a document, that information may be made available by giving an
excerpt.
Some of the information in the excerpt is withheld under section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act, to
protect the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown
or members of organisations.
As is required by section 9(1) of the Act, I have considered whether the grounds for
withholding information from 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 make a complaint to the Office of the
Ombudsman and seek an investigation and review of my response to your request. The
contact address is: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wel ington 6143. Alternatively,
you can phone 0800 802 602 or email [email address].
We intend to publish our response to your request made under the Act on our website
www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-requests-2. This letter, with your personal details
removed, wil be published in its entirety. Consistent with the Act, publishing responses
increases the availability of information to the public and helps promote balanced public
debate.
Nāku noa, nā
Anita Balakrishnan
Tumuaki |Director
Ministerial, Monitoring, and Capability Group
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