Review of Official Information Act 1982

Opened 14 Apr 2009

Contact Details

• Margaret Thompson
• mthompson@lawcom.govt.nz
• 04 914 4830

Publications to date

9 Dec 2009		Press Release

Public Law
By enabling scrutiny of government activities, the Official Information Act 1982 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, contribute to public trust and confidence in central and local government. The operating environment of these Acts is now very different from 20 years ago, in terms of parliamentary and government processes, technology, use of the internet, and socio-political norms. This review is intended to assess these two Acts to ensure they continue to operate efficiently and remain influential and we will recommend reforms if we believe they are necessary. The project focus is the effective operation of the legislation for members of the public, officials, journalists, researchers and politicians and it will build on recent research into how the Official Information Act works in practice. We have completed the initial stage of our review that involved a survey being sent out to agencies covered by either of these Acts and other stakeholders. We are currently analysing the responses and doing further research with a view to releasing an issues paper towards the middle of 2010.