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See the latest news and announcements.

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  • 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.

  • New guide—The OIA and the Inquiries Act 2013

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

  • First children in care case notes published

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    Five case notes published today concern complaints about children in care, and how these were resolved. 

  • New guide on proactive release

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    One of the purposes of the Official Information Act (OIA) is to make official information increasingly available to the NZ public.

  • 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

  • OPCAT aged care inspections programme information published

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    One of the Chief Ombudsman’s roles is to check on the treatment and conditions of people held in secure facilities – places people can’t leave even if they want to.

  • 2018/2019 Annual Report released

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    Our annual report is now online and it shows what we’ve been doing over the past year to improve how we handle your complaints and protect your rights to request information.

  • 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:

  • Thanks to those helping make disability rights real

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    With our Independent Monitoring Mechanism partners, we have just finished gathering your input on the state of disability rights in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  • New whistleblowing guide for agencies and submission on Protected Disclosures Act consultation

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    Today the Chief Ombudsman published a new guide for agencies on whistleblowing and his submission to the State Services Commission consultation on the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA).
  • New Opinion published

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    The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has published his findings on a case referred to during parliamentary question time last week.
  • Your OIA rights and responsibilities – now and in the future

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    On 13 July, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier addressed around 800 delegates at the New Zealand School Trustees Association’s annual conference.
  • New complaints handling research announced

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    We’re helping with research by the University of Newcastle Australia into the benefits of good complaints handling in public sector organisations.