News

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.

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.

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

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.

Our latest OQR is out. In this issue:

The Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) is made up of the Disabled People’s Organisations’ Coalition, the Human Rights Commission and the Ombudsman.

Some interesting OIA issues are covered in new case notes published by the Chief Ombudsman today.

Parliament has agreed to extend Peter Boshier’s appointment  as Chief Ombudsman for another five years.

In the Chamber, the Leader of the House, Chris Hipkins highlighted Mr Boshier’s efforts to resolve complaints in a timely way.

The Chief Ombudsman joins his international counterparts in their call for documentation, preservation and access to information as governments, businesses and citizens deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The Chief Ombudsman has published a new summary of his investigation into the State Services Commission (SSC)’s decision to withhold information about public service chief executive remuneration.

The OIA calculator is back online.

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

OIA calculator

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.

Our newest OQR is out. In this issue:

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