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32 Resources Show all

  • Ex-gratia payment for superannuitant in receipt of overseas pension

    Case notes
    Request by superannuitant for ex-gratia payment for deduction of voluntary component of overseas pension from New Zealand superannuation – Ministry of Social Development failed to advise superannuitant of discretion to defer commencement of deductio

  • Request for RMA side agreement between Council and iwi

    Case notes
    Section 7(2)(c)(ii) LGOIMA applied—agreement contained express obligation of confidence— release would be likely to damage the public interest in encouraging parties to settle their disputes without resorting to litigation—public interest in accountabil

  • Decision by public transport operator not to reimburse charges incurred due to unavailability of public transport services

    Case notes
    Complainant unable to board public transport service within 30-minute transfer period incurs extra charges—operator declines to provide a refund citing its policy—complainant alleges an obligation to provide services to all destinations within 30 mi

  • Charge for supply of information about the closure of Naenae Pool

    Case notes
    Decision to charge $228 for supply of information about the closure of Naenae pool was unreasonable—the significance of the issue within the Lower Hutt community warranted a full waiver of that charge—Council agreed to waive the fee and change its charg

  • Request for information on public service chief executive pay and remuneration

    Case notes
    Request for information on chief executive pay and remuneration—s 9(2)(a) did not provide good reason to withhold total chief executive pay—disclosure recommended by the Chief Ombudsman—s 9(2)(a) did provide good reason to withhold individual compon

  • Response of Board of Trustees to parents’ complaint about bullying

    Case notes
    Failure of school to deal effectively with bullying of autistic and gifted student – parents complain to Board of Trustees – response received a year later- parents highly dissatisfied – investigation discloses that independent review conducted without

  • Request for Police Commissioner’s letter to the Minister about Deputy Commissioner

    Case notes
    Request for letter written by the Police Commissioner to the Minister of Police about response to Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) findings on bullying complaints about Deputy Police Commissioner—s 9(2)(a) applied—information related to t

  • Request for Chief Executive’s performance agreement and KPIs

    Case notes
    Request for Chief Executive’s performance agreement and KPIs—s 7(2)(a) LGOIMA did not provide good reason to withhold most of the performance agreements and KPIs—however, s 7(2)(c)(ii) provided good reason to withhold ‘stretch targets’—there was a m

  • Decision not to include proposal in shortlist for Christchurch regeneration area plan

    Case notes
    Complainant’s proposal for the draft Ōtākaro/Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan excluded from shortlist of proposals for public notification—complainant alleged assessment of proposal flawed, failure of agency to engage with complainant regarding

  • Submission of the Ombudsman - OIA consultation July 2019

    Projects, reference & data, Submissions
    In March, the Ministry of Justice announced a public consultation on matters relating to the Official Information Act.

  • Request for staff names and initials in Commerce Commission memorandum

    Case notes
    Section 9(2)(a) OIA did not apply—not necessary to withhold staff names to protect their privacy—section 9(2)(g)(ii) did not apply—no information to suggest release would lead to improper pressure or harassment—section 9(2)(g)(i) did not apply—no reason

  • Request for correspondence between agencies and Operation Burnham inquiry

    Case notes
    Information held by agencies was ‘official information’—no exclusions applied—section 32 of the Inquiries Act did not change the status of the information held by agencies as ‘official’— information released with redactions

  • Request for emails generated in the course of the Ombudsman’s preliminary inquiries

    Case notes
    This case note relates to the Ombudsman’s investigation and review of a decision by the Ministry of Education to redact some information from its email responses to the Ombudsman’s preliminary inquiries.

  • Request for names and contact details in Department of Corrections’ emails

    Case notes
    Section 9(2)(a) OIA did not apply to names—many of the names were publicly available— seniority— section 9(2)(g)(ii) did not apply to names—no evidence to suggest release would lead to improper pressure or harassment—section 9(2)(a) did not apply to ema

  • Request for information about Operation Burnham

    Case notes
    Section 6(c) can potentially apply to prevent prejudice to the conduct of an inquiry under the Inquiries Act—however, blanket refusal was not justified—basic and uncontested factual material could be provided—section 6(c) applied where questions sought

  • Request for drafting instructions on the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Bill

    Case notes
    Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014 did not provide a statutory bar on the Ombudsman’s investigation of a complaint under the OIA—section 9(2)(h) applied—withholding necessary to maintain legal professional privilege—no public interest override

  • Request for officials’ names in information about glyphosate

    Case notes
    Section 9(2)(a) OIA did not apply—not necessary to withhold staff names to protect their privacy—section 9(2)(g)(ii) did not apply—no information to suggest release would lead to improper pressure or harassment—possibility of public criticism not enough

  • Request for emails between officials discussing the advice that should be tendered on the answering of parliamentary questions

    Case notes
    Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014 did not provide a statutory bar on the Ombudsman’s investigation of a complaint under the OIA—section 9(2)(g)(i) applied—release would prejudice the free and frank expression of similar communications in future—no public

  • Request for contact details of Housing New Zealand staff

    Case notes
    Section 9(2)(g)(ii) OIA applied—there was a strong likelihood that staff would be subjected to further harassment or improper pressure if the requester obtained their contact details—this conduct could detrimentally affect staff thus impairing HNZ’s abi

  • Request for copy of report about resource teachers of Maori

    Case notes
    Request to Minister of Education for report about resource teachers of Maori—request refused under s 18(d)—two months later report still not available—no reason under OIA to withhold information—Minister agreed to release report—release further delayed for purpose of consulting Associate Minister

  • Request for membership lists submitted by political parties registered with the Electoral Commission

    Case notes
    Request for membership lists submitted by political parties registered with the Electoral Commission—request refused under s 9(2)(a)—New Zealanders generally regard support for a particular political party as a matter of personal privacy—s 9(2)(a) applied—in the absence of any argument that the Commission was not discharging its statutory functions in a reasonable manner, there was no case for wider disclosure of membership lists in the public interest

  • Request for submissions made by ‘interested parties’ on Preliminary Accident Report

    Case notes
    Request for submissions made by ‘interested parties’ on Preliminary Accident Report— request refused under s 9(2)(ba)(i)—obligation of confidence established—‘Interested parties’ would be likely to be less forthcoming if they knew there was a possibility their comments would be made available to the public—s 9(2)(ba)(i) applied and not outweighed by public interest factors—requirements of natural justice already met—inquisitorial nature of Commission’s investigations

  • Request for communications between Minister of Finance and the Reserve Bank

    Case notes
    Request for communications between Minister of Finance and the Reserve Bank regarding economic growth, monetary policy and inflation outlook—information withheld under ss 6(e)(iv), 9(2)(d), 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i)—markets are extremely sensitive and react to the most subtle signals—if released, Reserve Bank would be likely to become more guarded about what was said at, and recorded after, meetings with Minister—s 9(2)(g)(i) applied and no countervailing public interest considerations which outweighed need to withhold

  • Request for course notes and material

    Case notes
    Request for course notes and material developed by a tertiary institution—requester not enrolled in course—request refused on grounds requester should not gain advantage over fee-paying students—section 9(2)(k) considered—section 16(1)(a) applied

  • Request from journalist for psychological state of deceased inmate

    Case notes
    Request from journalist for psychological state of deceased inmate—information withheld under s 9(2)(a)—information released to next of kin

  • Request for address list of members of university council

    Case notes
    Request for address list of members of university council—addresses withheld in reliance upon s 9(2)(a)—some members did not wish disclosure of private addresses—privacy accepted in those cases—public interest in members of the public being able to communicate directly with the elected members of the university council—public interest met by university undertaking to forward correspondence addressed to council members at the university

  • Request for information held by ENZA Fresh Ltd

    Case notes
    Request for information held by ENZA Fresh Ltd—relationship between ENZA and New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board—information not subject to OIA

  • Request by non-custodial parent for access to child’s school reports

    Case notes
    Request by non-custodial parent for access to child’s school reports—child specifically asked that reports be withheld—reports addressed to student and caregivers—relevance of s 77 of the Education Act 1989 to public interest considerations—good reason to refuse under s 9(2)(a) but short statement provided to non-custodial parent to the effect that there was nothing which required reporting in terms of the Education Act

  • Local Authorities not obliged to adopt narrow user-pays approach when setting rates

    Case notes
    Complaint concerned a service provided by local authority for which a rate was levied—believed as he did not benefit from it, his rates liability should be adjusted—Ombudsman concluded ratepayers cannot expect the level of services/benefits will reflect precisely the rates paid

  • Local Authority unreasonable to allow change to Management Plan without public notification

    Case notes
    Local Authority administering a park, agreed to a non-notified change in its Management Plan and allowed a sports club to expand its building at the park—local resident objected to lack of public consultation—Ombudsman found vague reference in the Plan to sport’s club hoped to expand its facilities, but given the scale and nature of the proposed building, the Local Authority’s decision not to notify a change to the management plan was unreasonable—Authority agreed with decision and commenced notification process

  • Council’s authority to levy Harbour Facilities Charge expired

    Case notes
    Imposition of ‘harbour facilities charge’—bylaw made pursuant to legal authority which had expired—s690A Local Government Act 1974, ss 33 and 427 Resource Management Act 1991

  • Ministry of Justice determines time spent in overseas prison awaiting extradition cannot be counted as time served

    Case notes
    Time spent in overseas prison awaiting extradition—does not count as time served in New Zealand