Making an OIA request
Overview and guidance for making a request for information under the Official Information Act 1982
The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga is an autonomous Crown Entity committed to supporting the principles of the Public Service Act 2020 and the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA), by promoting open government and increasing the availability of information and the internal processes used to prepare information for publication.
Who can make a request
Under the Official Information Act 1982 ('the OIA') New Zealand citizens, permanent residents, visitors to New Zealand, and body corporates registered or with a place of business in New Zealand can make a request for official information held by government agencies and can expect it to be made available unless there is a good reason to withhold it.
Official information
‘Official Information’ means any information held by a government agency including:
- Reports, memos, letters, notes, advice and emails
- Recordings, videos or computer records
- Internal policies or guidelines for decision making
- Reasons for decisions made about you.
Before making a request for information
Before you submit a request under the OIA, we encourage you to check if this information is already publicly available. We proactively release a wide range of information on our website that may include the information you are seeking, such as:
- titles of advice provided to our Minister
- formal advice to our Minister
- OIA responses
- corporate documents such as our annual report and statement of intent
- other information such as reports or publications.
Making a request
Your request for information can be in any form (written or in person) and does not need to mention the OIA. However, it is helpful to mention that it is a request for information. You can request information from us via:
Email: oia@tewaihanga.govt.nz
Postal address: DX SX33303, Wellington or Level 7, The Todd Building, 95 Customhouse Quay, Wellington
Phone: 04 889 7500
The OIA requires your request to be made with ‘due particularity’. This means the request should be as clear and specific as possible about the information you are seeking. You also need to provide us with:
- your contact details (name and address (email or postal) or phone number)
- details of the information requested, including subject/topic and specific timeframes where appropriate.
Once we receive your request, we will contact you to confirm that we have received it. We may also ask you to clarify your request or discuss it with us so we can understand in more detail the type of information you are seeking. These clarification discussions will help us get the right information to you in a timely manner.
Where requests are made over the phone or in person, we will confirm the request with you in writing. This will ensure we have captured correctly the information you are seeking so we can respond accordingly.
Visit the Office of the Ombudsman website for more information about making an OIA request.
Requests for personal information
Individuals can request information about themselves. Requests for personal information are processed under the Privacy Act. More information about privacy requests can be found on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website. We will advise whether we have responded to your request under the OIA and/or the Privacy Act.
Visit the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's website for more information about privacy requests.
Changing or withdrawing a request
You can change or withdraw your request by contacting us. When a change is made to a request we will advise if this impacts the time it will take to respond.
Transfer of request
We may transfer a request in full or in part to another agency when the information requested is not held by us and may be held by another agency or when the request is considered to be more closely aligned with functions of another agency. We will write to you when we decide that it is necessary to transfer your request.
Making a decision on a request
When we receive a request, we make best endeavours to find all of the information we hold that may be relevant to your request, and then we review it carefully. In order to make a decision on a request, we may need to consult with other agencies or people who might be affected by release of the information. We then respond advising our decision on your request.
Withholding information
The OIA requires us to release the information we have identified as being in scope of your request, unless there is ‘good reason’ for withholding it.
Reasons for withholding information are specified in the OIA (refer to section 6 and section 9). Before making our decision to withhold information, we consider the public interest in this information and whether this means we should release it. We then balance the public interest against any harm that may arise from releasing this information. If the public interest is greater than the harm, then the information will be released.
When we withhold information, we will advise you which section of the OIA applies.
Response time
In accordance with the OIA, we endeavour to respond to requests as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than 20 working days after we receive a request unless it has been extended.
We may extend the time limit if we need more time to make a decision on your request, for example when a substantial amount of information has been requested or we need to consult with other agencies in making the information available. If we need to extend the time limit, we will write to you and advise how long it will take us to respond.
Cost
Requesting official information is free, but we can charge you if it will take a lot of work to supply the information requested. These charges must be reasonable and may reflect some of the cost of labour (including to retrieve and collect the information) and materials to meet your request. Before we incur any charges, we will advise you in advance and provide you with an estimate of the costs.
The Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman both have guidance on charging.
Publishing OIA responses
We will consider publishing our responses to official information requests on our website where the information is believed to be of interest to the wider public and is suitable for publication more generally. The requester’s personal information (name and contact details) and any other information that may identify the requester will be removed from the published version.
See list of OIA responses we have published
If a response is unsatisfactory
If a requester is not satisfied with our decision on a request, they can contact us directly to see if the issue can be resolved.
A requester can also lodge a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman that outlines our decision or action they want to complain about, and why they think it was unfair.
These concerns can relate to the withholding of information, extending the timeframe to respond, any charges for providing the information requested, delays in providing a decision or the information, or the request being transferred.
The Office of the Ombudsman will then investigate and review our decision and may make a recommendation to us if it is considered appropriate.