Official Information Act Masterclass

The access to official information that the Official Information Act guarantees says a lot about our values as a nation.  The rise in information requests in the last reporting year means the Act continues to play a significant role in our constitutional landscape.  In this session we will take a brief look at the legal test and then turn to some of the more complex issues that arise under the Act.  We will explore how in-house legal teams can (a) help their clients make effective information requests, (b) draft persuasive submissions when consulted by an agency dealing with a request, and (c) help the decision maker make an appropriate decision about whether to release the requested information by:

• Taking a deep dive into the hard questions facing both requesters of information and agencies dealing with information requests
• Examining some of the common misconceptions and pitfalls around certain withholding grounds and how to avoid them
• Exploring challenging real-world examples and how they were resolved
• Considering recent Ombudsman decisions
  
  

If you’ve ever wondered whether your Teams messages could be released to the public, how tikanga principles factor into the legal test, and how often the Ombudsman has recommended the release of legally-privileged information—there might be something in this session for you.