The Official Information Act (OIA) is an important part of New Zealand's constitutional framework. It allows New Zealanders to access information that enables them to participate in government, and hold governments and government agencies to account.
The OIA allows New Zealand citizens, permanent residents, and anyone who is in New Zealand to request any official information held by government agencies – including the Ministry of Justice.
You can ask for:
access to any specified official information the Ministry of Justice holds
reasons for decisions made about you
internal policies, principles, rules or guidelines
meeting agendas and minutes of public bodies, including those not open to the public.
We cannot provide you with information held by the courts, such as sentencing notes, court records, transcriptions or information about a case currently before the court. Access to these is dealt with by separate legislation and court rules(external link). You will need to contact the relevant court directly – use our court finder tool to find contact details.
You do not have to request information in person from the courts. You can do so by contacting them and filling out an application. This can be done via email or by post.
A link to the form you will need to complete can be found here [PDF, 1.3 MB]. Please be aware that your name and address will be given to the parties to the relevant proceeding or appeal, as a part of the application process and that this may include the defendant/offender. No other contact or personal information should be given to the parties.
Please note that by law, when you ask for official information we have to respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 20 working days after we receive it. However, over the holiday period in December and January there is a three week period that doesn’t count as ‘working days’.
For Official Information Act (OIA) requests, that period is 25 December to 15 January, inclusive. That means any OIA requests submitted on 29 November or later may take a bit longer than you expected.
Please be aware that any request under the Official Information Act may be published once it is completed. If a decision is made to publish the response sent to you, it will be published no earlier than 10 working days once the response is sent to the requestor. This timeline may exclude those requests that come via FYI.org as in sending the response it is already public information, so the timelines do not apply.
Request information from the Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice can only answer requests for information that we hold. If you believe a different agency holds the information, please request the information from that agency. For example,
For information from other agencies check out the Directory of Official Information to find out what information each agency holds, and their contact details.
Requests for information from the Ministry of Justice can be sent to:
Your request should be as clear and specific as possible. You can specify the format you want the information presented in – for example by email or by post.
Can I request information in a specific format?
You can ask for information to be provided to you in a specific format. For example, you can ask for oral information to be provided to you or to review information in person (inspect files). You can also ask for information to be provided in an electronic, paper, or alternate accessible format if required. We will endeavour to respond to your request in your preferred manner.
If we are unable to provide information in the way you have requested, we will explain why, and you can make a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman if you are dissatisfied. The Ombudsman can be contacted via their online form:
We’ll acknowledge your request as soon as practicable and are required by law to respond no later than 20 working days after we receive it. For large requests or those requiring consultation, the OIA allows for a reasonable extension to this time limit. If so, we will let you know and give you a specific due date.
If you amend your request, the 20 working days will start from the day after this amendment has been received. If we need to clarify your request and do so within the first seven working days, the 20 working day timeframe will begin again once the clarified request is confirmed.
Withholding information
The OIA says information should be made available unless there is good reason to withhold it. We may only withhold information for specific reasons set out in the Act. If this occurs, we will let you know why.
If you are unhappy with our response, you have the right to complain to the Office of the Ombudsman. The Chief Ombudsman recommends contacting us in the first instance to see if we can resolve the issue. If you wish to contact the Ombudsman, they can be contacted via their online form:
The Ministry of Justice has adopted an OIA Policy [PDF, 430 KB] that outlines its obligations and responsibilities in responding to requests for official information.
Delegation of section 46 of the Official Information Act 1982 to the Public Service Commission
The Ministry of Justice, on 29 November 2016, formally delegated to the Public Service Commission its functions under Section 46 of the OIA regarding providing advice and assistance to public service agencies and organisations under the OIA. This has been formalised in a memorandum of understanding, available online [PDF, 1.2 MB].
OIA Information Practice Investigations
In September 2022, the Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier released his investigation into OIA practices at 12 core agencies, including the Ministry of Justice. Links to the reports can be found below: