3 September 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
John Burns-Smith
fyi-request-16317-
[email address]
Dear John
OIA request 21/22 0113 Request for information relating to the New Zealand passport design
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 6 August 2021.
You requested –
I wish to make a three-part OIA request for policy/discussion documents (or the like) which
pertain to passport language and issuance.
•
PART A
Please supply policy or discussion documents that pertain to the redesign of the passport
in 2021, as noted in the Seek Article 'New Zealand passport to get a security makeover'
published on 3 May. I appreciate this request is broad, so I would like to limit the request
to policies/discussions that focus on the primacy of one language over another.
•
PART B
Please supply policy or discussion or advice documents that the DIA generated or receive
when considering the presentation of Maori and English in various iterations of the
covers of passports and Emergency travel documents?
When considering Maori/English presentation, what advice did the Department receive
as to the presentation in terms of type size and position of 'Aotearoa'? It appears not to
be on equal footing with 'New Zealand' which appears larger on passports but the
reverse is true on Emergency travel documents where 'Aotearoa' and 'New Zealand' are
equal.
•
PART C
I would also like to request policy documents that outline what categories of person are
entitled to be issued diplomatic and official passports, and under what circumstances (for
example, current and former prime ministers / Department CEOs) and any policies that
govern the use of these documents. I appreciate that the policy which governs the use of
Diplomatic/Official passports may be issues by another government department, if that is
the case any helpful suggestion would be welcomed so I can redirect the enquiry to the
right area.
In response to your request I can provide you with the following information.
Part A
Much of the discussions around putting Te Reo Māori before English occurred in conversations
through the project phases, and not official advice provided in any form of documentation.
There are, however, two email chains that refer to the changes. Should these be of interest to
you, please find them attached alongside this letter. You will find that the email addresses of
external staff and the cellphone number of one Department staff member have been withheld.
This is pursuant to section 9(2)(a) of the Act; the withholding of the information is necessary to
protect the privacy of natural persons.
It may be helpful for me to explain that this is because the decision to put Te Reo Māori before
English on the New Zealand passport was part of the Uruwhenua 2020 project (the Project). The
Project was established to conduct a formal tender process for a new supply contract for New
Zealand travel documents, due to the expiry of the Department’s contract with Canadian Bank
Note (CBN).
The Department entered into a new ten year contract with CBN for the supply of travel
documents as a result of the tender process. The new contract included a refresh of the
passport book design, and the deployment and support of the infrastructure needed to produce
New Zealand passports.
As part of the refresh, the decision was made by the Department for Te Reo Māori to appear
first on the cover and throughout the book. This is because the Department has obligations as a
lead agency under Maihi Karauna, the Crown’s Māori Language Strategy. I note that making the
change in the New Zealand passport is an example of the strategy in practise, and a reflection of
true Treaty of Waitangi partnerships.
Part B
We have interpreted Part B of your request to be in relation to the 2020 passports redesign and
our current suite of travel documents.
I must advise that decisions about the size of the text in the various iterations of travel
documents were made in 2009 and there was no change to the type size in the latest 2020
redesign. I can confirm some changes were made to the positioning of text as a result of the
2020 redesign from a design/aesthetic perspective.
As there are no discussion or policy documents relating to Te Reo Māori and English in various
iterations from the 2020 passports redesign, we must therefore refuse this portion of your
request under section 18(e) of the Act.
Part C
Please find attached the policies relating to Official and Diplomatic passports, extracted from
the Department’s policy resource Tuwhiria te Tikanga.
I note that it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) who direct the Department on
whether to issue a Diplomatic passport. You may therefore wish to contact them in order to
seek out any policy documentation they hold regarding this. Information on making an Official
Information Act request to MFAT can be found here;
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https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/about-us/contact-us/official-information-act-
requests/?m=554834#search:b2ZmaWNpYWwgaW5mb3JtYXRpb24.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. All requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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