Chief Ombudsman Publishes Details Of Investigation Into Associate Health Minister’s Refusal To Release Author Info

The Chief Ombudsman has referred record keeping issues identified during his investigation into an official information complaint against Associate Health Minister Casey Costello to the Chief Archivist.

Peter Boshier began an investigation after he received a complaint about the Associate Minister’s refusal to release information on ‘who’ wrote or compiled notes she used to formulate the government’s tobacco policy.

Associate Minister Costello did not explain the grounds she used under the Official Information Act (OIA) for withholding the information and said the matter had already been addressed by written and oral parliamentary questions that were available on Parliament’s website.

After Mr Boshier began investigating, Associate Minister Costello acknowledged that the responses on the website did not in fact address the request. She clarified that the request was refused under 18(g) of the OIA, because she didn’t know who wrote or collated the notes.

The Associate Minister said she only received a hard copy of the notes that were placed on her desk and that her staff told her they didn’t know who authored the notes. They were not written by ministerial staff, none of them had placed the notes on her desk nor did they know who prepared them.

Associate Minister Costello added that she believed the notes were created by copying and pasting from a variety of sources over a significant period of time before the coalition government was formed. She said the likely source was a political party staffer or volunteer.

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In his final opinion, Mr Boshier considered Associate Minister Costello made reasonable efforts to try to determine who wrote or compiled the notes, and it was open to her to refuse the request on the basis she didn’t hold information about ‘who’ authored the notes.

But he is concerned the Associate Minister was unable to produce any records about the provenance of the notes.

Mr Boshier has taken the rare step of notifying the Chief Archivist about the record keeping issues in this case. The Chief Archivist has a range of powers to examine record keeping matters under the Public Records Act.

Mr Boshier also formed the opinion that the Associate Minister’s failure to make reference to any OIA withholding ground when she refused the request was contrary to law.

He has recommended the Associate Minister reviews the way she handled the request and takes steps to address the identified deficiencies.

The Chief Ombudsman is making no further comment.

Read the Chief Ombudsman's case note: https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/minister-did-not-hold-information-who-wrote-or-compiled-tobacco-policy-notes

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