MinOIA21-103
20 August 2021
John Luke
Via email:
[FYI request #16228 email]
Dear John Luke
Thank you for your email of 27 June 2021 in which you request the following under the
Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
I would like to request a list of vacancy (ministerial appointment only, e.g.
board member, Lay member, Trustee, member of working group etc) that the
nomination period has been closed but still under consideration within your
ministerial responsibility, I am in particular interested in the area of Minister of
Agriculture and Minister for Trade and Export Growth.
In your list, can you please included the date that vacancy been advertised,
what method you have used to publicly advertise the position and when the
vacancy been closed as well. Also, I would like to know if you decided to have
any future opening in 2021. e.g. the position that will call for public nomination
in the year of 2021”
There are currently no vacant board appointments within my ministerial responsibility
as Minister of Agriculture. There are also no future board appointments within that
portfolio requiring public nomination in 2021. Therefore, as I do not hold the
information, your request in this regard is refused under Section 18(g) of the OIA;
that
the information requested is not held by the department or venture or Minister of the
Crown or organisation.
Within my responsibility as Minister for Trade and Export Growth, I hold joint responsibility
for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and the New Zealand Story Group (which for
administrative purposes sits within NZTE) with the Minister for Economic and Regional
Development. NZTE’s monitoring agency is the Ministry for Business, Innovation and
Employment (MBIE). MBIE manages the appointments process for both the NZTE and New
Zealand Story Group Boards on behalf of both appointing Ministers (myself under the Trade
and Export Growth and the Minister for Economic and Regional Development).
NZTE and the New Zealand Story Group have the following Board appointments in the
scope of your request, currently being managed by MBIE:
Board
Position
Date Open
Date closed
Candidates
Board Member,
still under
Lay Member or
consideration
Trustee
Yes / No
NZTE
Chair
15 February
28 February 2021
Yes
Members
2021
NZ Story
3 private
1 March 2021
19 March 2021
Yes
Advisory
member roles
Board
The methods used to advertise these vacancies were:
Entity
Method of advertisement
NZTE
Publicly Advertised – MBIE’s website’s Careers Portal and
Current Board Vacancies page, Jobs.govt.nz and Seek.co.nz.
NZ Story Advisory
Specialist recruitment – MBIE directly approached a select
Board
number of candidates with highly specialised skill sets to apply.
This is only done in exceptional circumstances, where the
approach is the effective way to recruit for a role.
Future appointments expected in 2021 for NZTE and the NZ Story Group are provided in the
2021/22 Parliamentary Estimates Examination questions for Vote Business Science and
Innovation under question 197 on page 83, available at:
2021/22 Estimates Examination
Vote Business, Science and Innovation (www.parliament.nz) . Estimates answers published
every year will list the future appointments expected in the coming year under the relevant
portfolio.
For your information, I recently appointed 13 members to the newly established Trade for All
Ministerial Advisory Group – you can see my announcement on the Beehive website here:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/broad-perspectives-inform-trade-all-agenda.
These appointments were considered by the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee in
June.
I trust the information provided is of assistance. You are advised of your right to seek
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision by contacting
[email address] or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Hon Damien O’Connor
Minister of Agriculture
Minister for Trade and Export Growth
