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26 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 Treasury costings of interest-free student loans policy

    Case notes
    Summary The Office of the Leader of the Opposition requested information about the Labour Party’s interest-free student loans policy in the run up to the 2005 general election.

  • Charge for supply of information about community grants

    Case notes
    Cannot charge for time required due to administrative inefficiencies or poor record-keeping—public interest in MPs having access to official information to assist in the reasonable exercise of their democratic responsibilities warranted 10 per cent remission.

  • Agreement by ACC to stop regular rehabilitation assessments in light of information it already holds

    Case notes
    Whether the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) was reasonable to carry out regular assessments of a claimant for vocational rehabilitation despite already holding medical and occupational assessments confirming the claimant’s limitations—Ombudsman concluded this was not reasonable in the circumstances

  • Request for Treasury reports

    Case notes
    Consultation and decision making not relevant for the purposes of establishing ‘substantial collation or research’

  • Request for report on suicide and the media

    Case notes
    Strong public interest in requester having access—participation in making of laws and policy— release on conditions

  • Request for father’s immigration file

    Case notes
    Private interests gave rise to a public interest—pursuing legal rights and remedies

  • Landcorp fails to monitor survey of land for sale

    Case notes
    Lessee of Crown land given opportunity to purchase it freehold in 1996 from Landcorp—a review of title revealed land had been surveyed to exclude all internal waterways used by lessee for his salmon and trout farms and problem discovered too late for exemptions under Conservation Act—the consequences of survey effectively confiscated farms and lessee complained to Ombudsman that Landcorp’s failure to monitor survey allowed issuance of title for an unviable property—Ombudsman reviewed circumstances and agreed Landcorp should have ensured it was informed of survey progress—its failure to monitor meant Landcorp could not take more effective measures to overcome title issues and land subsequently not fit for sale—view formed that Landcorp’s sale was unreasonable—Landcorp disagreed with view but agreed to make ex-gratia payment to complainant