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See the latest news and announcements.

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  • Police delay in responding to OIA request

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    Issue date:

    Police failed to advise a requester of its decision on an Official Information Act (OIA) request as early as it could have because of its practice of advising the Police Minister three working days in advance of decisions on certain requests.

  • Ministry of Health entitled to withhold information under OIA

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    Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has formed an opinion that the public interest did not outweigh reasons to withhold information requested under the Official Information Act from the Ministry of Health about the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

  • Chief Ombudsman Māori panel's inaugural report

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    The Chief Ombudsman’s Māori panel – Pūhara Mana Tangata – has published a report of its first two years in operation.

  • New case note: Requests for information deemed vexatious

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    The Chief Ombudsman has published a case note on an investigation following a complaint by a requester about a number of refusals by Inland Revenue to provide information.

  • New case note—information about COVID-19 clusters

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    The Chief Ombudsman has published a case note on a complaint about a request for information about the names of COVID-19 clusters linked to cases in the Bay of Plenty District.

  • New guidance—the OIA’s confidentiality withholding ground

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    The Chief Ombudsman has published a new guide today on the OIA’s confidentiality withholding ground.

    The OIA says that information must be made available unless there is a good reason not to.

  • New privacy guide and case notes

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    Issue date:

    The Chief Ombudsman has published a new guide today on the OIA’s privacy withholding ground.

    The OIA says that information must be made available unless there is a good reason not to.

  • Delay in responding to OIA request

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    Issue date:

    The Chief Ombudsman has published a new case note today on an OIA delay complaint.

    Antarctica New Zealand responded to an OIA request well outside the extended deadline, and only after the Chief Ombudsman began an investigation.

  • New case note—Consultation on health and safety plans for Managed Isolation Facility

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    Issue date:

    The Chief Ombudsman has published a case note on his investigation of complaints by Stamford Plaza residents.

  • New guide—The OIA and the Inquiries Act 2013

    News article
    Issue date:

    The Inquiries Act 2013 provided a new framework for the conduct of public and government inquiries into matters of public importance.

    But there has been some uncertainty about how it interacts with the Official Information Act (OIA).

  • Case note on treatment of disabled mother and removal of newborn child

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    A case note released today looks into a complaint about Child, Youth and Family, which became Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children, removing a five-day-old child from their autistic mother.

  • Invitation: disabled people's experiences during COVID-19

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    Issue date:

    The Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) is writing a report about disabled people’s experiences during the COVID-19 emergency.  

  • OIA calculator back online

    News article
    Issue date:

    The OIA calculator is back online.

    Thank you for your patience while we addressed the issues in the previous version.

    OIA calculator

  • OIA and LGOIMA requests over the holidays

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    By law, when you ask an agency for official information they have to respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 20 working days after they got it.
  • International Right To Know Day coming up on 28 September

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    Information Access Commissioners and Ombudsmen from across Australia and New Zealand are urging government agencies to do more to make information available for the benefit of citizens.

  • Ombudsman Quarterly Review - Winter 2019

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    Our newest OQR is out. In this issue:

  • Changes to the LGOIMA, including ‘working day’ definition

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    Changes to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) which came into effect on 21 March 2019 will affect ‘working day’ calculations for LGOIMA.

  • Message from the Chief Ombudsman - 19 March 2019

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    Last Friday’s attacks in Christchurch have shaken us all to the core.

    To the people of Christchurch and to all those who have lost loved ones, my thoughts are with you. Kia kaha.