Three Waters Consultation
Luke made this Official Information request to Nanaia Mahuta
The request was refused by Nanaia Mahuta.
From: Luke
Dear Nanaia Mahuta,
On 8 December 2021, you responded to an Official Information Act request made by another person. Specifically, it asked:
"Please provide the number of submissions on the proposed Three Waters reforms that have personally been read in full by the Minister."
You refused under section 18(g), as that information was not available.
In light of this, I ask the following questions:
1. Does the number of submissions on the proposed Three Waters reforms that have been personally read in full by the Minister exceed 0?
2. Does the number of submissions on the proposed Three Waters reforms that have been personally read in full by the Minister exceed 1?
3. In the absence of a formal record, does the Minister believe she has read more than 10 submissions in full?
4. How many submissions on the proposed Three Waters reforms have been directly referred to the Minister, from the Department of Internal Affairs or any other agency, for her personal review?
5. Within the scope described in Question 4, Have any of those submissions been read in full by the Minister?
6. Please release the Summary Report from the Department of Internal Affairs containing recommendations based on the Three Waters submissions. A URL to this information was released in a previous OIA request, but that link leads to a 404 error. Please provide a PDF, if possible.
Please note that no part of the Official Information Act restricts requests to information stored on a document only.
Yours faithfully,
Luke
From: N Mahuta (MIN)
Nanaia Mahuta
Thank you for contacting the office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Minister of Local Government, and Associate Minister for
Mâori Development.
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recent statements<https://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/hon...>.
Ngâ mihi
[1]cid:image002.jpg@01D6B683.B93AFC70 Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Minister of Local Government |
Associate Minister for Mâori
Development
DDI: 04 817 8711
Private Bag 18041, Parliament
Buildings, Wellington 6160, New
Zealand
[2]https://xink.io/wp-content/themes/Xink/a...
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Authorised by Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160,
New Zealand
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References
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3. https://twitter.com/nanaiamahuta
4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nanaia-mahut...
5. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/hon...
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From: N Mahuta (MIN)
Nanaia Mahuta
Tēnā koe Luke,
I acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated 6/01/22.
We received your request on 10/01/22. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 14/02/22, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact our office. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
Ngā mihi
Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
show quoted sections
From: Charlie Rahiri
Tçnâ koe Luke
Thank you for your further email following the Minister of Local
Government’s response of 8 December 2021 to your Official Information Act
request of 27 October 2021.
In response to question 4 of your email, I can confirm that all formal
written submissions received by the Department of Internal Affairs from
councils following the eight-week consultation period were copied directly
to the Minister of Local Government by her office. As noted in the
Minister of Local Government’s 8 December letter to you, the Department
has published these submissions on its website at the following link:
[1]https://www.dia.govt.nz/local-government....
In response to questions 1, 2, 3, and 5 of your email, I reiterate that
neither the Minister nor her office hold a record of the number of
submissions personally read by the Minister. As noted in the Minister’s
attached letter to you, all submissions were reviewed and analysed by
officials from the Department, and advice and recommendations on those
submissions was provided to the Minister in the form of a Summary Report.
My apologies that an incorrect link to this document was provided in the
Minister’s letter – I’ve attached a PDF.
You have the right, under s 28(3) of the Official Information 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, Wellington. Alternatively, you can phone 0800 802 602 or email
[2][email address].
Ngâ mihi
Charlie Rahiri
Senior Ministerial Advisor
Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
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References
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1. https://www.dia.govt.nz/local-government...
2. mailto:[email address]
From: Luke
Dear Charlie Rahiri,
As I briefly mentioned earlier, I am a completely different individual to the person who made an Information Request prior to January 6.
I therefore do not hold the correspondence and information previously sent by the Ministry that you mentioned in your response.
It’s clear to me that this confusion has occurred due to the two of us requesting information under the same name. This is an unfortunate occurrence with common first names. My apologies.
The questions asked referred to information obtained by the minister in the course of her Ministerial employment. It is caught within the scope of the Official Information Act.
I will re-emphasise the point that the Act does not require a formal written record to be held for information to be released. The Act governs information, not records of information.
While I accept that the Minister may not hold a physical record of information, I believe that a reasonable person would have a mental record given the questions asked, and the relevance to her employment.
Over time, a persons mental record may become degraded and answers can become inaccurate. Simple questions are the most effective. I designed my questions specifically with this in mind.
Please clearly indicate whether the Minister holds a mental record or not regarding Questions 1, 2, 3 and 5.
In light of these points, I ask you to reconsider your response to my information request that was made on January 6 and you responded to on February 14.
Yours sincerely,
Luke
From: Luke
Dear Charlie Rahiri,
Please acknowledge receipt of my email dated February 17, relating to an OIA Request dated January 06.
Please also inform me when the Minister will respond to my Information Request. By law, I should have received a prompt response.
There is no reason for such a delay, given the information is limited in scope, and that has already been 11 working days since the request was overdue.
Yours sincerely,
Luke
From: Charlie Rahiri
Tena Koe,
I am out of the office until Friday 04 March, 2022. I will check my
emails and phone periodically and respond to requests when I can.
If it is urgent please text me on +64 21 826 031
Nga Manaakitanga
Charlie Rahiri
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From: Luke
Dear Nanaia Mahuta,
Please confirm whether the Minister/her office intends to respond to my email dated February 17 regarding my Official Information Act request.
By law, the Minister is required to respond promptly and within 20 working days.
Yours faithfully,
Luke
From: Charlie Rahiri
Tena Koe Luke,
The right under the OIA is to request ‘any specified official information’. ‘Official information’ is defined in the Act as any information held by an agency or Minister in their official capacity. There are also specific exclusions to the definition of official information. This suggests that there is no right under the OIA to request information that is not held by any agency, but would need to be created.
We have responded as reasonably as possible by explaining that the Minister nor her office hold any document or official information as outlined in section 2 of the OIA in response to parts 1, 2 3 and 5 of your request. We have also provided an explanation of the procedures by which the submissions were reviewed and analysed and where you may find these submissions. We feel that we have therefore met our obligations under the Act by providing what we do know and hold.
We stand by the decision to refuse these parts of your request under section 18(g) of the Act on the basis that the information is not held by the Minister or another department or Minister of the Crown. As noted previously, you have the right, under s 28(3) of the Official Information 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, Wellington. Alternatively, you can phone 0800 802 602 or email [email address].
I now consider this matter closed.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Charlie Rahiri | Senior Ministerial Advisor
DDI +64 4 817 8872 | Mobile +64 021 0255 2859| Email [email address]
Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta MP | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister of Local Government | Associate Minister for Māori Development
show quoted sections
From: Michael Naylor
Dear Mr Geange
I am writing to provide a further response to your Official Information
Act (OIA) request of 6 January 2022 regarding the number of public
submissions read by the Minister of Local Government regarding the
proposed Three Waters reforms.
Your request on 6 January asked for:
1. Does the number of submissions on the proposed Three Waters
reforms that have been personally read in full by the Minister exceed 0?
2. Does the number of submissions on the proposed Three Waters
reforms that have been personally read in full by the Minister exceed 1?
3. In the absence of a formal record, does the Minister believe she
has read more than 10 submissions in full?
4. How many submissions on the proposed Three Waters reforms have
been directly referred to the Minister, from the Department of Internal
Affairs or any other agency, for her personal review?
5. Within the scope described in Question 4, Have any of those
submissions been read in full by the Minister?
6. Please release the Summary Report from the Department of Internal
Affairs containing recommendations based on the Three Waters submissions.
A URL to this information was released in a previous OIA request, but that
link leads to a 404 error. Please provide a PDF, if possible.
On 14 March you received a response from the Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
providing answers to questions 4 and 6 of your request. In relation to
questions 1,2,3 and 5 the response noted that information on the number of
individual submissions read in full by the Minister was not specifically
recorded so we could not provide a response to those parts of your
request.
You have laid a complaint with the Ombudsman regarding this response and
our office has engaged with the Ombudsman’s preliminary inquiry. As part
of this we have informed the Ombudsman that while there is no written
record held of the number of the submission read by the Minister it is her
recollection that she read substantially all of the submissions from Local
Authorities on the proposed Three Waters reforms. However, due to the
passage of time it is not possible to state with confidence the exact
number of submissions that she read and whether they were read in full or
in part.
The Ombudsman has requested that we provide you with this response as it
may resolve your complaint without the need for further investigation.
Kind regards,
[1]cid:image002.jpg@01D6B683.B93AFC70 Michael Naylor
Ministerial Advisor | Office of Hon
Nanaia Mahuta MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Minister of Local Government |
Associate Minister for Māori
Development
M: 021 860 405
Private Bag 18041, Parliament
Buildings, Wellington 6160, New
Zealand
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