News

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).

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.

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

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

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

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.

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