Government media response teams breaching OIA and need 'fundamental cultural change' - Ombudsman's report
Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Government media response teams are breaching official information laws and need “a fundamental cultural change”, a new report concludes.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has released his follow-up to the 2015 review of the government’s Official Information Act (OIA) practices, Not a game of hide and seek.
Overall, he concluded the 12 government agencies surveyed were now more transparent, with more information proactively released.
However, he found multiple law breaches in the way media questions were treated. While most government agencies have separate teams dealing with questions from journalists, those requests are still covered by the OIA.
**READ MORE:
* 'Delay is the killer' – why our OIA watchdog isn't working
* The changes our official information watchdog wants to see
* OIA watchdog 'under pressure' but says majority of public service complying with transparency rules
* Andrea Vance: How flawed freedom of information system keep the public in the dark
**
But the “apparent dismissal by some agency media teams of the OIA legislation which underpins their work” was fuelling mistrust of public agencies, Boshier found.
In multiple cases, media teams failed to specify the reason for refusing information, or let the journalist know they could complain to the Ombudsman. Questions were also “fobbed off” to a formal OIA process.
Boshier called for an end to overly-complicated OIA processes that resulted in routine 20-day waits.
“When I look at the grounds for refusal, it is pretty straight-forward. Many requests can be dealt with pretty quickly… It is not so much the law as the process that departments follow. Their process can be as swift as they choose to make it, or it can be as difficult and painful. It is really up to them.”
Boshier also raised concerns about a lack of OIA training and found all 12 agencies had problems with record keeping and information management. Both were issues previously highlighted in former Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem’s 2015 report.
“There has been some improvement, but the improvements have not been profound enough,” Boshier said. “There is a lack of appreciation of leadership of how fundamentally important this act is.”
The pandemic response emphasised the importance of the public knowing how decisions were made, he said.
Boshier applauded the Public Service Commission for its commitment to improving OIA compliance. However, he called for government department chief executives to be held accountable for their agency’s OIA work by including OIA measures in their performance criteria.
Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes said his expectations of agency bosses were already clear.
“We want to get it right, but where that is not happening, I want to know about it, and I will make sure it is fixed.”
He said agencies dealt with media queries in good faith and as fast as possible.
Earlier this month, Hughes concluded the public sector was “performing well on its OIA obligations”.
That was based on new OIA statistics showing agencies took an average of 12.5 working days to respond to OIA requests, in the six months to June. However, large volume, quick-turnaround requests can mask deeper problems. Thirty-one agencies had average response times exceeding 20 days.
The 12 agencies covered by Boshier’s report were: the Public Service Commission; the ministries of Justice, Education, Health, Social Development, Transport and Foreign Affairs and Trade; ACC; Corrections; NZ Transport Agency, Customs and the Defence Force.