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See the latest news and announcements.

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  • 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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    Issue date:

    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.  

  • 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

    News article
    Issue date:

    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

  • 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

    News article
    Issue date:

    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

    News article
    Issue date:

    Our newest OQR is out. In this issue:

  • Strategic intentions for 2019-23 released

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    Issue date:
    The Chief Ombudsman's Strategic Intentions document for 2019-23 has now been released.
  • Chief Ombudsman’s submission on OIA consultation

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    In March, the Ministry of Justice announced a public consultation on matters relating to the Official Information Act.
  • Awareness of whistleblowing legislation alarmingly low

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    Issue date:

    Public awareness of the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) is very low, according to research undertaken on behalf of the Ombudsman.

  • New guides – Commercial withholding grounds and consulting third parties

    News article
    Issue date:

    The Chief Ombudsman has published a new tranche of guidance on the OIA. There are two new guides on the commercial and negotiations withholding grounds and one guide on how the OIA applies to information about public tender processes.

  • Chief Ombudsman welcomes new Oranga Tamariki role

    News article
    Issue date:

    Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier is welcoming the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of children and young people within the state care and youth justice system.

  • Free and frank advice and the Official Information Act

    News article
    Issue date:
    How do we strike the right balance between enabling confidential consideration of free and frank advice, and enabling the public to access official information to support open government? Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier discusses in a new Victoria University Policy Quarterly article.