17 March 2023
John Luke
[FYI request #21885 email]
REF: DOIA-2223-0600
Tēnā koe John
Thank you for your email of 20 February 2023 to the Ministry for Ethnic Communities (the
Ministry) requesting the fol owing information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
OIA).
I wil respond to each of your requests in turn:
…I noted, you have "a Honours project team", may I request the org chart of this
team. Also when does this team established?
The Honours Project Team is a temporary team made up of staff from the Strategic
Engagement and Partnerships Team and the staff member responsible for
Nominations. They come together as the Honours Project team to work on Honours, as
well as their usual work. The first team was set up March/April 2022. The numbers and
members of the team can change depending on workloads.
Please refer to Appendix 1 for the org chart. Please note that this org chart is current
as of March 2023.
…I noted, "Information about the people’s service/contributions/achievements
are gathered from formal and informal sources. " Can you specify, what formal
means and what informal means, and please give example of some sources you
have used…
Formal sources are information that can be verified, such as published material (e.g.,
published annual reports) and information on Government’s websites. Informal sources are
information that isn’t necessarily possible to be verified, such as organisation newsletters or
magazines.
…Can you please also let me know how many nomination you have submitted to
DIEC Minister for review, how many the DIEC Minister agreed to nominate and
how many she disagreed…
As you are already aware, some information about the New Zealand Royal Honours
(NZRH) nominations is available in the Ministry’s published annual report. The Ministry
believes that this level of information is appropriate and doesn’t see the need to
elaborate further.
Protecting the confidentiality of material about the NZRH nominations and
appointments is essential to maintaining the integrity of the NZRH system – in
particular, the protection of such information ensures that those engaging with the
Honours system can rely on the confidentiality of the process.
Page 1 of 3
I am therefore refusing this part of your request under the fol owing sections of the
OIA:
• Section 9(2)(ba)(ii) to protect information which is subject to an obligation of
confidence or which any person has been or could be compel ed to provide under the
authority of any enactment, where the making available of the information would be
likely otherwise to damage the public interest; and
• Section 9(2)(g)(i) to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free
and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or
members of an organisation or officers and employees of any public service
agency or organisation in the course of their duty.
…I noted "the Ministry nominated 11 candidates for a New Zealand Royal
Honour”, may I know if possible, what is the success rate of these candidates, e.g.
how many candidates you nominated actually received the New Zealand Royal
Honour…
The Ministry holds information regarding the candidates it nominated and who received a
NZRH. However, the Ministry is refusing to release this information under section 9(2)(ba)(ii)
of the OIA to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which
any person has been or could be compel ed to provide under the authority of any
enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely otherwise to
damage the public interest.
To provide context, successive Ombudsmen have considered that information relating to the
NZRH system may be withheld under the OIA because there is a strong public interest in the
protection of the confidentiality of the NZRH process. For example, information on the
number on nominees who have declined honours have been subject of an investigation by a
former Chief Ombudsman, who noted that although there was a public interest in the
disclosure of information about the NZRH system, the overall public interest in not served by
disclosing information that undermines that very system.
As required by section 9(1) of the OIA, I have considered whether the grounds for
withholding information under sections 9(2)(ba)(i ) and 9(2)(g)(i) of the OIA 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 to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of our response
to your request. Information about how to contact the Ombudsman’s office is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone on 0800 802 602,
Ngā mihi,
Edward Firth
Director of Ministerial Services
Page 2 of 3
Appendix 1.
Core Staff – Honours Project team
Support Staff – Honours Project team
Page 3 of 3
