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See the latest news and announcements.

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  • New LGOIMA calculator launched

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    Issue date:

    Today the Chief Ombudsman has launched an online calculator that will make it easier for you, and local government agencies, to estimate the maximum timeframe for responding to an official information request.

  • Statement from Chief Ombudsman regarding MIQ complaints

    News article
    Issue date:

    Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has issued the following statement on his consideration of complaints about the managed isolation and allocation system and border-related issues.

  • New case note—information about COVID-19 clusters

    News article
    Issue date:

    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

    News article
    Issue date:

    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

    News article
    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

    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

    News article
    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

    News article
    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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    Issue date:

    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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    Issue date:
    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.
  • New complaints handling research announced

    News article
    Issue date:

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

  • 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.