Letters to the Editor
Perfect service
THE FABULOUS thing about the Cameron Slater official information request debate is that he got the OIA service he ought to have had – and indeed that all requesters should get! While there are some instances where the 20 working days’ grace are needed, many requests could be handled easily within a day or two. If someone simply asks a public service department for information they usually get it straight away. If they ask ‘‘under the Official Information Act’’ then the department seems to need to hand the request to their legal department, thereby putting it into a lengthy queue and process, where it almost always takes at least the 20 days to get an answer out. It would be good if it were made clear that any request is an official information request under the act, and that speedy responses should be the norm.
is far more than just a collection of emails – this raw material is meticulously analysed and placed in context with previously known facts. Thanks to these glimpses behind the scenes, the public is able for the first time to gain an inkling of tricky tactics by some of our leaders.
The pattern of skulduggery with Official Information Act requests is striking. Investigative journalists are resigned to waiting a month for a reluctant minister to respond, but are frequently disappointed because their ‘‘stab in the dark’’ questions were not framed in precisely the right way. Often they receive unhelpful documents or are declined. So they have to file a series of OIA requests, sometimes taking many months to zero in on the critical information.
Dirty Politics describes how journalists are regularly gazumped by Whale Oil’s Cameron Slater receiving a tip from a Beehive source about an OIA request on the verge of release, suggesting the right way to successfully request a copy. Slater is thus enabled to skew public perception of the information by using his prime mover advantage to put a stridently anti-opposition spin on the release before the journalist has a chance to receive, analyse and publish it. of error. There is only one poll that truly counts and that is the result of our actual votes on the election day and I would urge every eligible voter to go and vote on election day. The shocking disclosures of hacking in the book Dirty Politics may cause some voters to think about not voting but we need to remind ourselves that in many countries people are dying because they are fighting for something that we take for granted, the right to vote in a legitimate election to determine our future government.