Dear Department of Internal Affairs,

On 18 February 2025, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) published a report ‘The Policing of Public Protests in New Zealand’.

In paragraph 5 of the report the IPCA stated, “We have also collaborated with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Internal Affairs on the preparation of the main body of the report.”

The Council requests the following information under the Official Information Act:

1. All communications to and from the IPCA relating to this report, excluding anything relating to any specific complaint. Given that the IPCA has indicated it collaborated with the Department on the preparation of the main body of the report, we expect this would include emails, briefings, meeting notes, formal and informal advice, and responses to the positions of the IPCA and its other collaboration partners and stakeholders.

2. All internal analysis, assessment, consideration, formal and informal advice, and recommendations or responses developed or communicated within the Department about the issues raised in the IPCA report and the recommendations made by IPCA.

3. All information recording Department decisions on how to proceed regarding the recommendations made by the IPCA in its report.

4. All communications from the Department about the report, or how to proceed following the publication of the report, to (a) the Minister of Internal Affairs, (b) the Minister of Justice, (c) the Police, (d) Crown Law and (e) the NZ Security Intelligence Service.

Under section 16(2) of the OIA our preferences are (a) to receive a copy of the whole document (b) that the information is disclosed in a text searchable format, either Word or PDF, and (c) that it is sent to the email address from which the Department received this request.

If the Department decides that there is 'good reason' under the OIA to withhold any of the information we are requesting, then under section 19(a)(ii) of the OIA, we further request that the Department provide us with the grounds in support of each instance of a withholding reason cited for refusal. Guidance for agencies on how to meet their section 19(a)(ii) obligations is available from the Ombudsman at this location: https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...

If any part of our request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact us. A response to this request is due as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case no later than 25 March 2025. If a large volume of information is in scope, then we are willing to discuss an extension, or to amend our request to a list of material.

Yours faithfully,

New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties