Messages between Jacinda Ardern, Meghan and Harry will remain secret, pending an appeal. Photo / Supplied
Messages between Jacinda Ardern, Meghan and Harry will remain secret, pending an appeal. Photo / Supplied
Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to keep her messages with Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex secret, refusing an Official Information Request Act request to release them.
The Herald has appealed that decision to the Ombudsman.
The chair of New Zealand’s Republican Movement, Lewis Holden, said the messages need to be released, noting there is high public interest in knowing whether Harry and Meghan are using the influence and access afforded by Harry’s birth appropriately.
Harry and Meghan were reported to have considered relocating to New Zealand after stepping back as senior members of the Royal Family. In Harry’s memoir Spare, he confirmed the reports.
“What if we could spend at least part of each year somewhere far away ... beyond the reach of the press? The question was ... where? We talked about New Zealand,” Harry said in the book.
They opted to move to Canada and then California instead.
Nearly three years of correspondence from 2018 to 2022 was requested by the Herald. Messages between the office of the former Prime Minister and the office of the Duke and Duchess were released.
However, the Government acknowledges that there are “additional communications between then-Prime Minister Ardern and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” themselves, which it has decided to keep from the public eye.
The Government said it was withholding the release of these messages “to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions” - a ground for withholding information under the Official Information Act.
That section has a history of being unevenly applied. Messages between public figures like, for example, microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and Ashley Bloomfield, or even between journalists and ministers’ offices, have been captured and released by the Official Information Act.
It is not clear why Meghan and Harry’s messages merit full protection.
Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, meet with then Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern in Wellington on October 28, 2018. Photo / Pool, Marty Melville, AFP
Ardern was approached for comment through the office of current Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. The Herald inquired about the content of the correspondence and whether it was in text, WhatsApp, email or another format.
Ardern declined to comment ahead of the Ombudsman decision.
Holden said it was not appropriate for the messages to be withheld.
“There’s general protection for communications with the Sovereign being kept secret, it’s hard to see how that restriction (which itself is unjustified) could apply to these communications.
“We have no idea if the Duke and Duchess have lobbied our Prime Minister for access, immigration status or anything else. They shouldn’t have special protection just because they’re members of the Royal family,” he said.
He said there was a high public interest in the messages being released, noting there was a history of the monarchy sometimes interfering inappropriately in domestic affairs.
“Even though the Royals are largely a symbol, and their day-to-day lives are an irrelevance, there are often specific instances where their communications are of huge public interest - an example is the letters between Buckingham Palace and the Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr, prior to Kerr sacking the government of Gough Whitlam in 1975,” Holden said.
“However, the monarchy is a highly secretive institution, and unlike every other part of a democratic government does its best to escape scrutiny,” he said.
Act leader David Seymour said the messages showed why the Official Information Act needed reform.
“Harry and Megan wouldn’t have been texting her if she wasn’t Prime Minister of New Zealand. That job comes with responsibilities to the New Zealand people who pay for the tickets for Royal events.
“If she was doing official business that should be released. If she was using her position to chit-chat with the royals, the public have a right to know that, too,” Seymour said.
“This is why OIA reform matters. The government too easily ignores information requests despite promising to be open and transparent,” he said.
The Royal Family has been the subject of battles over information before.
In the United Kingdom, journalists battled for five years to have then-Prince Charles’ letters to Ministers including former Prime Minister Tony Blair released.
The so-called Black Spider memos, named after Charles’ distinctive scrawl, showed him taking an intense interest in political matters and lobbying for certain passion projects.
