It’s heartening to see the get up and go and drive from this Office recently. The Ombudsman Quarterly Review is great for keeping up to date with what the Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, and his team are up to. (www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/newsroom/item/ombudsman-quarterly-review-september-2017)
And they’re up to a lot. How it operates matters if we want more open and transparent government.
We’re particularly interested in the line between no surprises (agencies letting their ministers know about tricky OIAs, Official Information Act, requests) and complying with the OIA without ministerial interference.
Check out the Ombudsman’s new protocol on dealing with OIA requests involving ministers. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources-and-publications/documents/new-dealing-with-oia-requests-involving-ministers
Watch out any new government: the Ombudsman is on the case.