26 November 2024
45 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011
PO Box 805, Wellington
Phone: 04 495 7200
Peter Brown
Email: [email address]
[FYI request #28507 email]
Website: dia.govt.nz
Tēnā koe Peter,
Your Official Information Act 1982 request, reference OIA 2425-0299
I am responding to your email of 24 September 2024 to the Department of Internal Affairs
(the Department) under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Your full request is
appended below as
Appendix A.
On 22 October 2024, the Department notified you that the time to respond to your request
was extended by 25 working days under section 15A(1)(b) of the Act. This extension was
required because the necessary consultations to make a decision on the request could not
reasonably be made within the original time limit.
Response to your request
Part One
Table One
below provides a list of documents the fall within the scope of part one of your
request. I am releasing one document to you, and withholding three documents and their
relevant attachments under section 6(a) of the Act, as making available this information
would be likely to prejudice the international relations of the Government of New Zealand.
Part Two
You have asked the Department for information about its policies for handling requests
under the Act which include information that was either provided to the Department by
third parties or which relates to them. I confirm that the Department does not have any
policies, processes, or guidance which support differential treatment of third parties
according to nationality or any other categorisation.
Part Three A
In accordance with guidance from the Privacy Commissioner, when an individual is seeking
information in their personal capacity, the Department will not disclose their identity to a
third party which is being consulted, unless that individual has consented to the disclosure.
If the requester is a group, such as a trust or company, or an individual seeking information
in their professional capacity (like a journalist), the Department may, if necessary, advise the
third party the name of the affiliated organisation of the requester. This is usually sufficient
to inform whether the third party has any concerns regarding disclosure and help them to
articulate the precise basis of their concerns.
Part Three B
Despite a reasonable search of our systems, including the email records of previous
employees, the Department does not hold any records of whether or not the requester in
question was contacted to seek their permission (prior reference OIA1819-0421). I am
therefore refusing this part of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the documents
alleged to contain the information do not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it,
cannot be found.
Accessing the Ombudsman
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of my response by the Office of the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Anita Balakrishnan
Director Ministerial and Monitoring
Appendix A
In January 2019, in response to a OIA request for the document on AI and ethics developed
for the 'Digital 9' forum in israel held the previous year, DIA contacted representatives of the
nations and israel that had contributed to that document to offer to redact anything they
wanted hidden from the OIA request.
1) I am requesting, in their original form (not a summary) all communications within DIA and
with external parties including (but not exclusively) israel about the response to this OIA
request.
2) At least in the case of israel, DIA offered to allow them to redact any information they had
provided to DIA, including their admissions of their abuse of AI to harass and murder political
opponents made in the document.
Is this standard DIA policy when responding to OIA requests- would such consideration be
given to a free country like Cuba or Iran, or only to israel and its proxies like the USA or
Canada?
3) In response to questions from agents of the israeli regime, which has repeatedly been
involved in political assassinations of foreign civilians it sees as inconvenient, and which has
been repeatedly exposed as conducting illegal 'intelligence' activities within New Zealand,
DIA provided personal information about the identity of the requester, including their name,
their employer and job title, and their political affiliation.
3a) Is it standard practice for DIA when consulting external parties in response to a OIA
request to disclose the name, employer, job title, and political affiliation of the requester?
3b) Did DIA seek approval from the requester before disclosing their protected private
information to the israeli regime, potentially endangering their life?
