Number of coinciding requests for OIA's
Scott Milne made this Official Information request to Department of Internal Affairs
The request was refused by Department of Internal Affairs.
From: Scott Milne
Dear Acting Minister of Justice (Chris Findlayson)
This is an official request for the exact time and dates that
requests similar to the request placed for information to Cameron
Slater's OIA request dated 21 December, 2012, received at 1.27pm
were received. These "similar requests" were stated as a reason for
Cameron Slater's request being expedited "in the interest of
fairness". My original request was placed on 28th August, and I recently had a response saying that the email address the request went to was no longer monitored. This in itself is highly unsatisfactory. I would like a response urgently, given the relevance of this information to matters in the public domain, and the relative ease at which this information should be to hand.
I am requesting
a) When were similar requests received (Date and time)
b) When were similar requests successfully or partially fulfilled
(Date and time)
c) Were these similar requests responded to by email or by post.
I would prefer to have my response dealt with by email, and
information about the status of this request will be forwarded by
fyi.org.nz. I am a citizen and resident of New Zealand
Given the upcoming election, I believe this request qualifies to be
made under urgency per the Official Information Act, given the
significant interest in statements made on the subject.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Milne
Yours faithfully,
Scott Milne
From: C Finlayson (MIN)
On behalf of Hon Christopher Finlayson, thank you for your email. Please
be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where
the Minister has portfolio responsibilities for the issues raised, a
response will be sent to you in due course.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your
email falls outside of his portfolio responsibilities, or expresses a
personal view, then your opinion will be noted and your correspondence may
be transferred to another office or there may be no further response to
you.
Kind Regards
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson
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From: Scott Milne
Dear C Finlayson (MIN),
Regarding my Official Information Request, placed 28th August 2014 (Originally to Judith Collins, then Minister of Justice) - are you going to respond, under urgency, as I requested?
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
From: C Finlayson (MIN)
On behalf of Hon Christopher Finlayson, thank you for your email. Please
be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where
the Minister has portfolio responsibilities for the issues raised, a
response will be sent to you in due course.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your
email falls outside of his portfolio responsibilities, or expresses a
personal view, then your opinion will be noted and your correspondence may
be transferred to another office or there may be no further response to
you.
Kind Regards
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson
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From: Scott Milne
Dear C Finlayson (MIN),
As the time period for the original request for this information has now been exceeded, and I have not heard back from you with regard to this matter, I will proceed with contacting the Ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
From: C Finlayson (MIN)
On behalf of Hon Christopher Finlayson, thank you for your email. Please
be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where
the Minister has portfolio responsibilities for the issues raised, a
response will be sent to you in due course.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your
email falls outside of his portfolio responsibilities, or expresses a
personal view, then your opinion will be noted and your correspondence may
be transferred to another office or there may be no further response to
you.
Kind Regards
Office of Hon Christopher Finlayson
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From: James Christmas
________________________________
Scott Milne left an annotation ()
Not my choice to transfer the request - see Chris Finlayson's reply. . .
Luke C left an annotation ()
Scott
I know it wasn't your decision to transfer, but I wondered if you had thought about asking why, when it seems odd (to me at least)?
From: Scott Milne
Dear James Christmas,
As Mr Finlayson is Acting Minister of Justice, it seems reasonable that he would have access to all the OIA requests handled by that department before the departure of Judith Collins. Are you saying that the information about the OIA's submitted to Judith Collins as Minister of Justice are no longer in the offices of the Minister of Justice? What about any staff that were working for the Minister at the time? Have they all disappeared as well?
I do not understand the reason my request has been transferred, and would like you to elaborate on this please. In addition, since my original request was made, to the appropriate authority, more than 20 working days ago, I would request that this matter be treated with urgency.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
From: James Christmas
Dear Mr Milne,
I am happy to discuss this matter with you by telephone on 04 817 9815. Alternatively, send me your number and I will call you.
Regards,
James
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Milne [mailto:[OIA #2019 email]]
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 10:23 PM
To: James Christmas
Subject: Re: Official Information Act request - Number of coinciding requests for OIA's
Dear James Christmas,
As Mr Finlayson is Acting Minister of Justice, it seems reasonable that he would have access to all the OIA requests handled by that department before the departure of Judith Collins. Are you saying that the information about the OIA's submitted to Judith Collins as Minister of Justice are no longer in the offices of the Minister of Justice? What about any staff that were working for the Minister at the time? Have they all disappeared as well?
I do not understand the reason my request has been transferred, and would like you to elaborate on this please. In addition, since my original request was made, to the appropriate authority, more than 20 working days ago, I would request that this matter be treated with urgency.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
-----Original Message-----
________________________________
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[OIA #2019 email]
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hide quoted sections
Scott Milne left an annotation ()
To update anyone following this request: After Judith Collins lost her job, many of the staff in her office were transferred. The reason James Christmas transferred my request to Parliamentary Services is because they may have the back-up/emails etc of the person who originally answered the request, who I believe answered Cameron Slater's request in the first place.
Scott Milne left an annotation ()
Sorry just re-read last annotation. Ministerial Services can look at the email and backups of previous person in the job, who answered Cameron Slater's original request - I think Judith Collins Press Secretary. This is why request was transferred.
Luke C left an annotation ()
OK thanks Scott for explaining that. I thought that might have been the case.
From: Anne O'Shaughnessy
Department of Internal Affairs
Dear Scott Milne
Please find attached a response relating to your request of 14 September
2014 to Hon Christopher Finlayson which was transferred to Ministerial
Services, Department of Internal Affairs for reply.
Regards
Anne
Anne O'Shaughnessy | Acting Manager | Business Services and Secretariat
Support, MaSS
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
Direct Dial: +64 4 817 8943 | Extn: 8943 | Mobile: +64 27 454 3709
Level 18 Bowen House, Lambton Quay| PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New
Zealand | [1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
From: Scott Milne
Dear Anne O'Shaughnessy,
I find this response astounding, especially as I originally asked for a response prior to the election. I have had my request transferred three times. It also seems astounding to me that the information - essentially the metadata - about the requests is not readily available, enabling the original requests to be referenced and compared to see if they were similar to the OIA that Cameron Slater asked for.
Especially since this response has already been given by Amy Adams to another OIA
https://fyi.org.nz/request/1983-list-of-...
I would ask that the matter be treated with urgency. I have already approached the Ombudsman about this matter and will keep them updated on this development.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
Dan Forth left an annotation ()
Looking at the list of requests released by Amy Adams in response to the Drummond request you cite, why is the Slater request which you date as 21/12/2012 not in that list? Have I missed something?
Scott Milne left an annotation ()
Indeed - a very important question that I think gets to the heart of the matter here.
From: Anne O'Shaughnessy
Department of Internal Affairs
Hi
Please find attached the response to your correspondence of 28 October
2014.
Regards
Anne O’Shaughnessy
Anne O'Shaughnessy | Acting Manager | Business Services and Secretariat
Support, MaSS
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
Direct Dial: +64 4 817 8943 | Extn: 8943 | Mobile: +64 27 454 3709
Level 18 Bowen House, Lambton Quay| PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New
Zealand | [1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
From: Katrina Taylor
Department of Internal Affairs
Dear Mr Milne,
Please find attached a response to your Official Information Act request.
Kind regards,
Katrina Taylor
Katrina Taylor | Business Services and Secretariat Support | Ministerial
and Secretariat Services
Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
[1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
From: Scott Milne
Dear Katrina Taylor,
So after a 40 day extension, given to me on the last day of a 20 day period, you are declining my request?
It is my understanding that OIA requests have to be recorded under the Public Records Act. Am I correct in discerning that the inability to response in this case means that this Act was breached in this case?
Yours sincerely,
Scott Milne
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
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Luke C left an annotation ()
If the 21 Dec 2012 request from Cameron Slater was to the Minister of Justice, and you are wanting similar requests sent to the Minister of Justice (I assume that Minister only) then why would James want to transfer the request to Ministerial Services? Is it because Minister Collins' records been transferred to Ministerial Services? I don't understand.
Link to this