NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand’s Ombudsman, Peter Boshier (pictured) has warned Government Departments not to treat routine media inquiries as Official Information Act (OIA) requests as a way to drag their feet over a response.
He said some delays were simply not acceptable.
“Public debate now is very current on issues and we need to enhance that and support it,” Mr Boshier said.
“The speed of digital news means demand for information is quite different to 10 or 15 years ago, and I think Government Departments have to accept that this is the requirement of the modern era.”
The issue came to light after the opposition National Party said there was an increasing tendency for Government Agencies to treat straightforward media queries as OIA requests, which then gave them 20 working days to respond.
Journalists in the Radio New Zealand newsroom said they had noticed an increase in the practice of invoking the 20-day OIA deadline.
Opposition Spokesperson for State Services, Nick Smith said he was appalled by relatively simple inquiries being delayed, particularly in areas where the Government was under pressure.
“They are ducking and diving,” Mr Smith said.
Minister for State Services, Chris Hipkins said the Government had set high expectations for itself.
“The more open and transparent we are, the more people see the inner workings of Government and the less ‘spun’ and finessed some of the information is going to be — that’s actually a perfectly okay thing,” Mr Hipkins said.
Mr Boshier said all requests were technically requests for official information but that did not automatically “turn it into something which it isn’t”.
“A fundamental part of the Act is protecting the right of the public to participate in democracy, so if there’s a live issue and we’re heading towards a resolution, there’s no point trying to participate democratically in the process if you don’t have the information … until months after the event,” he said.
Wellington, 6 March 2019
