45 Pipitea Street
Wellington
25 May 2023
Phone 0800 25 78 87
dia.govt.nz
James
[FYI request #22460 email]
Tēnā koe James
Your request for information, reference OIA 2223-0793
Thank you for your email of 14 April 2023 to Hon Kieran McAnulty. On 27 April 2023 the
Department of Internal Affairs (the Department) received a part of your request as a transfer
from the Office of Hon Kieran McAnulty. You requested the fol owing information under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“On the 13th of April the government relaunched its Three Waters policy as affordable
water reforms at a press conference fronted by PM Hipkins and yourself. It was
announced to media present, that the “numbers of the scheme had been peer reviewed
twice.
Under the OIA please provide the dates the numbers were reviewed and who they were
reviewed by?”
The Department has made the decision to refuse your request in accordance with s18(d) of
the Act, as
the information requested is or wil soon be publicly available. The Department is
currently working through the process necessary to publish information relating to the
announced changes to our website as there is a high degree of public interest.
Once we have published the information to our website, you wil be notified and provided
with a link to the location of the information. You may choose to make a further request once
you have reviewed the publicly released information.
In the meantime, you may wish to view the previous modelling and reports, including the peer
reviews by Farriersweir Consulting and Becca which helped inform the refined modelling for
the 10 Water Services Entities. This information is on our website, as part of the National
Evidence Base, located here:
• www.dia.govt.nz/three-waters-reform-programme-national-evidence-base
Information used in the development of the original model ing was in part from the
Department’s Request for Information (RfI) process. Further information regarding RfI can
also be found on our website here:
• www.dia.govt.nz/Archived-Three-Waters-Reform-Programme-information#RFI
Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
In relation to the future publication of the information refused above, certain information wil
be withheld under the principles of one or more of the fol owing sections of the Act:
• 9(2)(a) to
protect the privacy of natural persons;
• 9(2)(b)(ii) because it
would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position
of… the subject of the information;
• 9(2)(ba), to
protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence…where
the making available of the information (i) would be likely to prejudice the supply of
similar information, and
• 9(2)(ba)(ii)
would be likely otherwise to damage the public interest; and
• s9(2)(f)(iv), to
maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which
protect— the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
Certain decisions are still under consideration by the Minister.
• 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
• 9(2)(j) to
enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation
holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations
(including commercial and industrial negotiations).
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the 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, Wel ington. Alternatively, you can phone 0800 802 602 or email
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Rashad Saeedi
Manager, Ministerial Services
Water Services Reform Programme
