Points of Order — Official Information Act Requests—Questions to Ministers

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have raised this matter with you, and I would be interested in your consideration of it. I have asked the Associate Minister of Education a series of parliamentary questions relating to a recent decision of the Government about funding for Auckland University. The response I have had is that he will not answer the questions because there is an Official Information Act request on that matter. I know for sure that it was never Parliament’s intention that the Official Information Act would replace the parliamentary question process. They have different purposes and elicit different sorts of information in different ways. I would be interested in your ruling as to whether a Minister can quote the Official Information Act as a statutory barrier to answering parliamentary questions.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: The member wrote to me this morning. I got the letter, and I have actually already replied to it, and I have asked the Minister for an explanation. I will most certainly look at this; I regard it as a serious issue.