On behalf of Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, Minister of Immigration, Minister for
ACC and Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety thank you for your
email. Please consider this email as an acknowledgement.

Thank you for taking the time to write and please be assured that your
comments will be read by the Minister. However, there may be no further
response to you.

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Iain Lees-Galloway

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Good Afternoon,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated Sunday 11 Nov 2018 for,

My OIA request refers to the meeting you are reported to have held about Karel Sroubrek at which you told media you asked lots of questions. See https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...
Under the OIA I request the following information:
1) What were all these questions?
2) What were the answers?
3) All notes taken by officials and/or your office staff at this meeting.

We received your request on Monday 12 Nov 2018. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 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.

Yours Sincerely

Office Hon Iain Lees-Galloway
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
Minister of Immigration
Minister for ACC
Deputy Leader of the House | MP for Palmerston North
P: 64 (4) 817 8713
Authorised by Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, Wellington

show quoted sections

 

Good Afternoon

 

Please find attached an extension and partial response to your OIA request
from Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, Minister of Immigration.

 

Kind regards,

 

[1]Crest Office Hon Iain Lees-Galloway

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety

Minister of Immigration

Minister for ACC

Deputy Leader of the House | MP for Palmerston North

P: 64 (4) 817 8713

                        Authorised by Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, Wellington

 

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References

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Good Afternoon,

 

Please find attached a response to your OIA request from Hon Iain
Lees-Galloway, Minister of Immigration.

 

Kind regards,

 

[1]Crest Office Hon Iain Lees-Galloway

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety

Minister of Immigration

Minister for ACC

Deputy Leader of the House | MP for Palmerston North

P: 64 (4) 817 8713

                        Authorised by Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, Wellington

 

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References

Visible links

Dear Mr Hooton,

 

We have received correspondence from the Office of the Ombudsman regarding
their investigation of your complaint regarding the Minister’s decision to
cancel Karel Sroubek’s deportation liability on 19 September 2018
(Ombudsman ref 492946).

 

I have discussed this matter with Hsu-Ee Khoo, the assigned investigator.
While we are happy to participate in the investigation, I wondered whether
some further context may assist (and if so, you may agree that no further
investigation is necessary). 

 

In relation to your request for “all notes taken by officials and/or your
office staff at [the 19 September] meeting, I have confirmed with the
participants that no notes were taken at the meeting.  This may seem
surprising (as you say, it is usual practice for officials to take notes
in meetings) but this reflects the process for decision-making in these
cases (it is similar to that for discussions at Cabinet).  Officials
provide the Minister with a case note that summarises the main features of
the case.  The Minister reads this and then asks questions which are
generally answered by the officials taking the Minister to the relevant
part of the file.  Because these questions are resolved at the time, they
are not recorded.  This is usually the majority of the questions on the
file.

 

Alongside this, under s 11 of the Immigration Act 2009, there are strong
 protections on the absolute discretion of the Minister.  These include
the carve outs from disclosure cited in the Minister’s earlier letter to
you.  Separate but related to this is the practice of not generally
recording discussions regarding the case that may indicate the reasons for
the Minister’s decision.

 

We understand that this process has remained essentially unchanged for at
least a decade and across administrations.  That is not to say that the
process should not be improved:  Minister Lees-Galloway has asked MBIE to
look at whether these settings remain best practice and alongside this,
Mike Heron QC is reviewing the process from preparation and presentation
of case files (including Mr Sroubek’s case specifically).  We are
determined to ensure that the process is fit for purpose.

 

As a result of all this, we cannot therefore disclose all of the detail of
the questions asked and the answers given (nor notes which do not exist). 
The Minister has spoken in some detail on his decision making process on
19 September 2019, including what was discussed.

 

I attach a copy of the statement delivered by the Minister on 28 November
which covers off these issues in the greatest detail.  Between this and
the full case file (provided to you on 21 December subject to necessary
redactions), these should provide a picture of the deliberation process
(albeit not in the detail you had asked for).

 

Happy to discuss further.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Jeff

Jeff Sissons

Ministerial Advisor to Hon Iain Lees-Galloway

 

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, ACC, and of Immigration

Deputy Leader of the House

 

4.5R, Executive Wing | Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings |
Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

 

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