Geoff
No address provided
Via email: [FYI request #29513 email]
28 January 2025
Kia ora Geoff
Official Information Act request dated 10 December 2024
We refer to your email dated 10 December 2024 requesting information under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). We have numbered your request for ease of
response.
Request: Tonight, you shared the results of your Treaty Principles Bill poll, but you
didn't share the question asked. You also didn't share the question asked or
preceding script information that was given to set it up on:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/12/10/poll-more-nzers-
oppose-than-support-treaty-principles-
bil /__;!!AuqdxLo!iuc99AHzmVJkRZA8e5ly3Aa_P41r3iVs3N81yb2FfsBUCNRb1g3ttWPlU
qCNyue8lj1BwnSt31TIzGo-1gKNgDPzQh0mJQSSkoXqDoAOHJx7RNMt2ChGA$.
The full breakdown results by all demographic variables also don't seem to be online
anywhere.
Can you please share:
1. The full research script for this full poll, including any exposition/preceding
information given to respondents,
2. The exact question asked,
3. The answer options available for respondents, and
4. The full results by all demographic variables, please.
Response: The information requested under numbers 2, 3 and 4 is publicly available:
A summary of the poll results and methodology was included in the article under the
heading “Full Results” (see
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/12/10/poll-more-nzers-
oppose-than-support-treaty-principles-bill/). Since publication, the article has been updated with a link to the full poll report
(https://www.scribd.com/document/817726360/30-Nov-4-Dec-2024-1-NEWS-
Verian-Pol -Report-Full-Report). That report includes the questions asked, the answer
options available for respondents, and results by demographic (as recorded). These
answers have also been enclosed with this letter. For clarity, the full poll report was
released only once coverage of all questions and associated stories had been
broadcast. Information on the pol methodology is located at pages 3 to 4; the Treaty
Principles Bill question is located on page 14.
Information responsive to question 1 and the initial part of your email (research, scripts
and preparation for the story), is withheld on the bases of:
• Section 9(2)(b) of the Act: to protect information where the making available
of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial
position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information;
• Section 9(2)(g) of the Act: to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions by members of an
organisation in the course of their duty; and
• Section 9(2)(i) of the Act: to enable TVNZ to carry out, without prejudice or
disadvantage, commercial activities.
Information about TVNZ’s internal news and current affairs operations (including the
collection of source information for current affairs segments) is commercially
sensitive, and is withheld to enable our newsroom to operate free of influence and
without fear or favour, Release of information about how we produce our news and
current affairs content would put us at strategic disadvantage to our competitors in
the media industry, would mean we could not carry out free and frank editorial
discussions, and would mean we could not produce news and current affairs content
without disadvantage.
We trust this information assists. If you are dissatisfied with this response, section 28
of the Act sets out the circumstances in which you may make a complaint to the
Ombudsman in order to seek an investigation and review of this decision.
Yours sincerely,
Official Information Requests Team
TVNZ
2
Responsive information
The following information is publicly available at the links provided in our response:
The question in the pol relating to the Treaty Principles Bill was: “The Treaty Principles
Bill is currently before Parliament. Do you support or oppose the Bill or not know
enough to say?”. The words “support or oppose” were rotated to “oppose or support”
for approximately half of respondents.
The answer options for the Treaty Principles Bill question, and the percentage of
people who voted for each option, were as fol ows:
• Support – 23%
• Oppose – 36%
• Don’t know enough about the Bil – 39%
• Prefer not to say – 2%
The results of the Treaty Principles Bill question broken down by demographic
variables are below. TVNZ does not hold any further results broken down by
demographic variables.
• Those groups of eligible voters who were more likely than average (23%) to
support the Bill were:
ACT Party supporters – 77%
New Zealand First supporters – 48%
Men aged 55+ – 40%
National Party supporters – 30%
• Those groups of eligible voters who were more likely than average (36%) to
oppose the Bill were:
Green Party supporters – 68%
Māori – 67%
Labour Party supporters – 52%
Women aged 18 to 34 – 49%
People living in the Wel ington region – 48%
Graduates – 46%
Those with a household income of more than $150,000 – 45%
3
