Ref: DOIA 2324-1456

 

Kia ora Stephen Prendergast,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 11 January 2024 requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

‘On September 6, 2023 Josh Hercus emailed John Marney (TSY) including
cashflow and additional analysis for the Cabinet paper Ruapehu Alpine
Lifts - options for government support. This request is for those
documents. I am also requesting all correspondence between Josh Hercus and
other parties covering updates on RAL, post watershed which include the
term PTL or Pure Turoa.’

 

Please note that the days from 25 December 2023 to 15 January 2024
(inclusive) are defined as non- working days in the Act and are not
counted in the calculation for the response due date. This may affect the
time period for responding to your request.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no
later than 13 February 2024, 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
enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us via email to
[1][MBIE request email].

 

 

Nâku noa, nâ

Ministerial Services

 

Corporate Services, Finance & Enablement

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  PO Box 1473 Wellington 6140

 

 

References

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1. mailto:[MBIE request email]

Tçnâ koe Stephen,

 

Thank you for your email of 11 January 2024 to the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment (MBIE) requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:

 

On September 6, 2023 Josh Hercus emailed John Marney (TSY) including
cashflow and additional analysis for the Cabinet paper Ruapehu Alpine
Lifts - options for government support. This request is for those
documents.

 

I am also requesting all correspondence between Josh Hercus and other
parties covering updates on RAL, post watershed which include the term PTL
or Pure Turoa

 

Your request for “all correspondence between Josh Hercus and other parties
on RAL, post watershed” will be very difficult to meet without substantial
collation or research.

 

Unless this part of your request is refined, it will likely be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act, that the information cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.

MBIE therefore invites you to narrow your request. For example, you may
wish to narrow it to specify a smaller date range or focus on key
information and documents with a particular party (rather than “all
communication”).

Please let us know before 26 January 2024 whether you are prepared to
amend or clarify your request and, if so, how.

Please note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to
be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory
timeframe for response as per section 15(1AA) of the OIA.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Ministerial Services

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[1]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

 

References

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Dear Stephen,

Thank you for agreeing to narrow the scope of your request. We now read the full request as follows:

"On September 6, 2023 Josh Hercus emailed John Marney (TSY) including cashflow and additional analysis for the Cabinet paper Ruapehu Alpine Lifts - options for government support. This request is for those documents.

I am also requesting all correspondence between Josh Hercus and either
(a) the Office of the Min of Regional Development covering updates on RAL, post watershed through to 1 September 2023 which include the term PTL or Pure Turoa or
(b) Pure Turoa (PTL) from the watershed meeting through to 1 September 2023."

Please let us know if this is not correct.

In response to your message of 23 January, MBIE had not requested clarification, rather it had sought to consult with you to see if you would be willing to narrow the scope of the request.

As you have identified, as per section 18A(1) of the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), in deciding whether to refuse a request under section 18(f), the department must consider whether charging and/or extending the timeframe would enable us to make a decision on the request.

However, before deciding to refuse under 18(f), MBIE also has a duty under section 18B to consider consulting you - to see if the request can be modified to allow us to process it without the need for refusal, an extension or charging. This is the step MBIE is currently taking.

If you were unwilling to modify the request to make it more manageable in scope, we would then decide whether granting an extension or considering charging would allow us to process the request. MBIE also notes section 18A(2) of the Act:
(2) For the purposes of refusing a request under section 18(f), the department or venture, Minister of the Crown, or organisation may treat as a single request 2 or more requests from the same person—
(a) that are about the same subject matter or about similar subject matters; and
(b) that are received simultaneously or in short succession.

In deciding whether to grant a request, MBIE also takes into consideration the existing workload and collation that is being undertaken. Our team is currently working on seven active requests from you regarding RAL, the five most recent of which were received in short succession. The time required to locate, compile, and assess all the relevant material to determine if it is in scope is considerable.

The preference was therefore to try and modify the scope, to enable the information you are most interested in to be prioritised and hopefully avoid the need to refuse or consider a long extension.

We thank you for providing us with a narrowed scope, and hope you have a lovely weekend.

Ngā mihi,
Ministerial Services

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Kia ora Stephen,

 

Please find attached a letter and documentation from the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment relevant to your recent request for
Official Information (DOIA 2324-1456).

 

Ngā mihi

 

Ministerial Services

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[1]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

References

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Kia ora Stephen,

 

Please find attached a letter and documentation from the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment relevant to your recent request for
Official Information (DOIA 2324-1456).

 

Ngā mihi

 

Ministerial Services

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[1]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

References

Visible links