Ministry for the Environment - Official information compliance and practice
Introduction
In September 2025, we commenced an investigation into the Ministry for the Environment - Te Manatū mō te Taiao (the Ministry) as part of our regular program of proactive investigations into official information compliance and practice. The Ministry is one of five agencies selected – we also examined the Civil Aviation Authority, Inland Revenue, Ministry for Primary Industries, and the Ministry for Regulation.
This report sets out our observations on how the Ministry meets the requirements and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) against our indicators of good practice. Our investigation focussed on the dimensions of leadership and culture, and performance monitoring and learning, and the interaction between them.
An agency’s culture around transparency, openness, and the strength of its OIA practices flows from the attitudes, messaging, and actions of its senior leaders – particularly those of the Chief Executive. It is our expectation that leaders make clear, regular statements to staff and to the public in support of the principle and purposes of official information legislation specifically, and of the importance of openness more generally.
Accurate performance reporting is also crucial for responding to demands and reprioritising when required. Through regular reporting, senior leaders can oversee the agency’s practice and compliance with the OIA, the effectiveness of its structures, resources, capacity and capability. Any issues identified that risk the agency’s ability to comply with the OIA should be actively considered, addressed and, in effect, create a feedback loop.
At the time of writing this report, the Ministry is entering a transformative phase as it moves toward a merger into a new agency in July 2026. This new entity, the Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), will integrate the Ministry’s environmental stewardship with transport, housing, and local government functions.
During the period of this investigation the Ministry was led by James Palmer, who served as the Secretary for the Environment and Chief Executive from March 2023 until early 2026. Throughout this report Mr Palmer will be referred to as ‘the Chief Executive’.