Dear Correspondent  

 

Thank you for contacting Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Racing.  

 

The Deputy Prime Minister considers all correspondence important and
appreciates you taking the time to write.   

 

Please note that since the Deputy Prime Minister receives a large amount
of correspondence, it is not always possible to personally reply to all
emails. 

 

The following guidelines apply: 

 

·         Invitations and requests to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister
will be processed as soon as possible and a staff member will be in
contact with you in due course. 

·         Media queries will be responded to by a staff member. 

·         Requests for official information will be managed in accordance
with provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include
transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency. 

·         If your email falls outside of the Deputy Prime Minister's
portfolio responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to
multiple Members of Parliament, then your opinion will be noted and your
correspondence may be transferred to another office, or there may be no
further response to you. 

·         If your correspondence is to the Minister as the Member of
Parliament or Party Leader of New Zealand First, this may be referred to
the New Zealand First Leader’s office. 

 

(If your invitation or meeting request is accepted - please note
information about meetings related to the Ministers’ portfolios will be
proactively released (this does not include personal or constituency
matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list: date, time
(start and finish), brief description, location, who the meeting was with,
and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the Minister on behalf of
an organisation, the name of the organisation will be released. If you are
a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet with the Minister in
your personal capacity, your name may also be released. The location of
the meeting will be released, unless it is a private residence. The
proactive release will be consistent with the provisions in the Official
Information Act, including privacy considerations. Under the Privacy Act
1993 you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we
hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is
wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it
corrected, or are concerned about the release of your information in the
meeting disclosure, please contact the sender. You can read more about the
proactive release policy at
[1]https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas... ) 

 

(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.) 

 

Regards 

 

The Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

Dear Ms. Anderson, 

I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request dated
3 February 2024, in which you requested the following: 

“I would like to make a follow up request for all correspondence that you
or your office has received in your capacity as Minister of Defence from
the date of my last request (10 December 2023) to today, 3 February 2024
(correspondence meaning any emails and physical mail), relating to the
below subjects. Please provide separate numbers for correspondence in
support of Palestine vs those that are in support of Israel.

 Subjects of interest:

 - Gaza

- Palestine

- Israel's actions towards Gaza/Palestine

- Operations in the Red Sea, or against Yemeni Houthi rebels.

Regarding phone calls received by the Minister's office, is there a
process by which concerns relating to the Minister's portfolios are
relayed to him? If there is, can you please describe this?”

We received your request on 5 February 2024. We will endeavour to respond
to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 5 March
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 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.

Kind regards, 

Private Secretary.

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters
Deputy Prime Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs |

Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

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Dear Ms Anderson

 

Further to your email of 3 February, we would appreciate clarification
that:

 

 a. your OIA request is indeed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs not
Minister of Defence as noted in your request? 

 

 b. if your request is to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, please confirm
that you are wanting details on the number of correspondence received,
rather than the physical letters/emails?

 

 

Thanks and regards

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister |

Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

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Dear Ms Anderson,

 

Per your last correspondence dated 9 February 2024, in which you clarified
that your original request was to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I can
advise that we will respond as soon as possible and, in any event, no
later than 8 March 2024, being 20 working days after the day the request
was received. 

 

Kind regards, 

Private Secretary. 

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters
Deputy Prime Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs |

Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

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Dear Ms Anderson

 

Please find attached a letter regarding your OIA request of 3 February
2024.

 

Kind regards

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister |

Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

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Dear Ms Anderson

 

Please find attached a response from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to
your email of 3 February 2024.

 

Kind regards

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister |

Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

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Dear Ms Anderson

 

Thank you for your follow-up query.

 

Yes, that is correct. We are unable to provide a breakdown of
correspondence along the lines you have requested, as providing resource
to do so would have an unreasonable impact on this office's ability to
carry out its other functions. This part of your request was therefore
refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information requested
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.

 

Kind regards

 

Foreign Affairs Private Secretary

 

Office of Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister |

Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Racing |

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

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