Chris Hipkins ordered to apologise for breach of Official Information Act

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ office has been ordered to apologise by the Chief Ombudsman for breaching the Official Information Act.

In a formal finding that has not been made public until now, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has upheld a complaint by the Herald about a weeks-long delay in the release of government documents relating to the extreme flooding in Auckland earlier this year.

The rebuke follows Hipkins’ comments in May that he “absolutely expects” ministers to comply with the disclosure rules after Willie Jackson failed on several occasions to meet the obligations imposed by the OIA.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ office has been ordered to apologise by the Chief Ombudsman. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Hipkins told media today that he had not had a chance to read the decision yet but accepted the issues raised. Nobody would be fired for the incident, he said. .

The Ombudsman’s finding highlights growing concerns about the functioning of the OIA, which transparency campaigners say is one of New Zealand’s most important tools for scrutinising government decisions and holding politicians and public officials to account.

Officials claim government agencies comply with the vast majority of OIA requests on time — 97.7 per cent in the six months to December — despite getting more requests than ever. But journalists, researchers, open-government campaigners, and other frequent users say these official statistics conceal serious flaws in the disclosure process.

Requests for information in the public interest are often held up for weeks or months while departments carry out “consultations”. Deadlines are missed because of understaffing, cumbersome internal processes, and poor data management. And when documents are released, there may be extensive redactions to protect commercial interests or the “free and frank” opinions of advisers.

“We should care about how well the OIA is functioning because it’s an integral part of any modern democracy,” says Andrew Ecclestone, a freedom of information researcher. “You can’t meaningfully have public participation and public accountability unless you have a well-functioning information system.”

Extreme weather flooded huge swathes of Auckland earlier this year. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Earlier this year, the Herald asked numerous government departments and ministerial offices, including that of the Prime Minister, for documents showing how they responded during and immediately after the deluge that devastated Auckland on January 27.

Under the OIA, a public body is required to provide a response within 20 working days of a request, but it can extend this deadline for a “reasonable” time if it requires searching through a large volume of information or extensive consultations on what should be released.

Hipkins’ office extended their time limit for a response to March 24 but missed this deadline and did not reply to a reporter’s emails seeking updates. Eventually, it provided one batch of documents on April 21 and another on July 24. There was no explanation or apology for the delay.

The Herald complained to the Ombudsman and last week Boshier issued a formal finding telling the Prime Minister’s office to apologise, and to report back to him on what improvements it is making to its processes to avoid similar delays.

A spokeswoman for Hipkins said: “The Prime Minister will apologise, as guided by the Ombudsman.

“The delay of approximately one month for the vast bulk of the documents was unfortunate. NEMA [the National Emergency Management Agency] was incredibly busy during this time responding to the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.”

“We will be responding to the Ombudsman shortly to set out improvements to the system to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” the spokeswoman added. “This case does not represent a trend.”

Other departments took even longer to comply with the Herald’s requests for documents about the flooding. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) gave itself until April 5 to respond to a request submitted on January 31, but then did not turn over any records until mid-July.

In a separate formal finding, the Ombudsman said MBIE’s delay was “unacceptable” and that he would monitor the department for “demonstrable non-compliance” in the future. MBIE has apologised for the delay.

To date, Auckland Council has taken the brunt of criticism for the haphazard response to the January flooding, but numerous central government departments were also involved in the response and have not been subjected to the same scrutiny.

NEMA is conducting a review of its role, which will not be completed until the end of the year. A broader government inquiry led by former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae was established to examine responses to the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, with a deadline for final recommendations of March 2024.

Labour promised to make government more open and transparent when it came into government in 2017, but reforming the disclosure process has not turned out to be a high priority since then. In recent months, several ministers have run into controversy for not complying with the legislation.

In June, the Ombudsman found that former minister Stuart Nash had wrongly refused a journalist’s request for emails in which Nash disclosed information from Cabinet discussions to political donors. Those emails leaked in March, prompting Hipkins to sack Nash for a “clear breach” of Cabinet’s collective responsibility and confidentiality.

Alex Spence is a senior investigative journalist based in Auckland. Before joining the Herald, he spent 17 years in London, where he worked for The Times, Politico and BuzzFeed News.