The question whether any official information is to be made available, where that question arises under this Act, shall be determined, except where this Act otherwise expressly requires, in accordance with the purposes of this Act and the principle that the information shall be made available unless there is good reason for withholding it.

Good reason for withholding official information exists, for the purpose of section 5, if the making available of that information would be likely—

Where this section applies, good reason for withholding official information exists, for the purpose of section 5, unless, in the circumstances of the particular case, the withholding of that information is outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make that information available.

Subject to sections 6, 8, and 17, this section applies if, and only if, the withholding of the information is necessary to—

Where a request under this Act relates to information to which section 6 or section 7(2)(b) applies, or would, if it existed, apply, the local authority dealing with the request may, if it is satisfied that the interest protected by section 6 or section 7(2)(b) would be likely to be prejudiced by the disclosure of the existence or non-existence of such information, give notice in writing to the applicant that it neither confirms nor denies the existence or non-existence of that information.

Subject to subsection (2), the rule of law which authorises or requires the withholding of any document, or the refusal to answer any question, on the ground that the disclosure of the document or the answering of the question would be injurious to the public interest shall not apply in respect of—

but not so as to give any party any information that that party would not, apart from this section, be entitled to.

Nothing in subsection (1) affects—

Any person may request any local authority to make available to that person any specified official information.

A request under subsection (1)—

Notwithstanding subsection (1), a request made, on or after the date of commencement of this subsection, by or on behalf of a natural person for access to any personal information which is about that person shall be deemed to be a request made pursuant to information privacy principle 6(1)(b) set out in section 22 of the Privacy Act 2020, and shall be dealt with accordingly, and nothing in this Part or in Part 5 shall apply in relation to any such request.

The official information requested shall be specified with due particularity in the request.

If the person making the request asks that that request be treated as urgent, that person shall give that person’s reasons for seeking the information urgently.

A local authority to which an oral request is made under subsection (1) may, if written clarification is reasonably necessary, ask the person requesting the information to put the request in writing to clarify the request.

If the person requesting the information declines or is unable to put the oral request in writing, the local authority must record its understanding of the request, and provide a copy of the record to the person.

It is the duty of every local authority to give reasonable assistance to a person who—

to make a request in a manner that is in accordance with that section or to direct that person’s request to the appropriate local authority or department or Minister of the Crown or organisation.

Where—

the chief executive of the local authority to which the request is made, or an officer or employee authorised by that chief executive, shall promptly, and in no case later than 10 working days after the day on which the request is received, transfer the request, or relevant part of the request, to the other local authority, or the appropriate department, Minister of the Crown, or organisation, and inform the person making the request accordingly.

Subject to this Act, the local authority to which a request is made in accordance with section 10, or is transferred in accordance with section 12 of this Act or section 14 of the Official Information Act 1982, shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, and in no case later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received by that local authority,—

Subject to section 23, every local authority (including a local authority whose activities are funded in whole or in part by another person) may charge for the supply of official information under this Act.

Any charge for the supply of official information under this Act shall not exceed the prescribed amount.

Where no such amount is prescribed, any charge fixed shall be reasonable, and regard may be had to the cost of the labour and materials involved in making the information available and to any costs incurred pursuant to a request of the applicant to make the information available urgently.

The local authority may require that the whole or part of any charge be paid in advance.

Where a request in accordance with section 10 is made or transferred to a local authority, the decision on that request shall be made by the chief executive of that local authority or an officer or employee of that local authority authorised by that chief executive unless that request is transferred in accordance with section 12 to another local authority or to a department, Minister of the Crown, or organisation.

Nothing in subsection (5) prevents the chief executive of a local authority or any officer or employee of a local authority from consulting a local authority or any other person in relation to the decision that the chief executive or officer or employee proposes to make on any request made to the local authority in accordance with section 10 or transferred to the local authority in accordance with section 12 of this Act or section 14 of the Official Information Act 1982.

If a request (the original request) is amended or clarified after the date on which it is received, the local authority that receives the request may treat the amended or clarified request as a new request that, for the purposes of subsection (1), replaces the original request.

However, subsection (7) does not apply if—

Where a request in accordance with section 10 is made or transferred to a local authority, the chief executive of that local authority, or an officer or employee authorised by that chief executive, may extend the time limit set out in section 12 or section 13(1) in respect of the request if—

Any extension under subsection (1) shall be for a reasonable period of time having regard to the circumstances.

The extension shall be effected by giving or posting notice of the extension to the person who made the request within 20 working days after the day on which the request is received.

The notice effecting the extension shall—

Where the information requested by any person is comprised in a document, that information may be made available in 1 or more of the following ways:

Subject to subsections (2) and (3), information made available in any of the ways listed in subsection (1) may be made available in electronic form or by electronic means.

Subject to section 16, the local authority shall make the information available in the way preferred by the person requesting it unless to do so would—

Where the information is not provided in the way preferred by the person requesting it, the local authority shall, subject to section 8, give to that person—

Where the information requested is comprised in a document and there is good reason for withholding some of the information contained in that document, the other information in that document may be made available by making a copy of that document available with such deletions or alterations as are necessary.

Where a copy of a document is made available under subsection (1), the local authority shall, subject to section 8, give to the applicant—

A request made in accordance with section 10 may be refused only for 1 or more of the following reasons, namely:

In deciding whether to refuse a request under section 17(f), the local authority must consider whether doing either or both of the following would enable the request to be granted:

For the purposes of refusing a request under section 17(f), the local authority may treat as a single request 2 or more requests from the same person—

If a request is likely to be refused under section 17(e) or (f), the local authority must, before that request is refused, consider whether consulting with the person who made the request would assist that person to make the request in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal.

Where a request made in accordance with section 10 is refused, the local authority shall—

Subject to sections 6, 7(2)(a), (b), (c), (h), and (i), 8, and 44, every person has a right to and shall, on request made under this section, be given access to any document (including a manual) which is held by a local authority and which contains policies, principles, rules, or guidelines in accordance with which decisions or recommendations are made in respect of any person or body of persons in that person’s or that body of persons’ personal capacity.

Sections 10(2) and (3), 11 to 14, and 18 shall apply, with all necessary modifications, to a request made under subsection (1).

Where by virtue of any of the provisions of section 6 and section 7(2)(a), (b), (c), (h), and (i), there is good reason for withholding some of the information contained in a document to which subsection (1) relates, the local authority shall, unless it is impracticable to do so, either—

Where a document is made available under subsection (3), the local authority shall, subject to section 8, give to the applicant—

Subject to sections 6, 7(2)(b), 8, and 44, where a local authority makes, on or after 1 March 1988, a decision or recommendation in respect of any person, being a decision or recommendation in respect of that person in that person’s personal capacity, that person has the right to and shall, on request made within a reasonable time of the making of the decision or recommendation, be given a written statement of—

A reference to the information on which any findings were based need not be given under subsection (1)(b) if—

For the purposes of subsection (1A), the term evaluative material means evaluative or opinion material compiled solely—

Sections 10(3), 11 to 14, and 18 shall apply, with all necessary modifications, to a request made under subsection (1).

In subsection (1A)(b), medical practitioner means a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand continued by section 114(1)(a) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 as a practitioner of the profession of medicine.

Subject to this Part, and to sections 8 and 44, every person has a right to and shall, on request, be given access to any personal information which—

The right conferred by subsection (1) may be exercised only by a person who is not a natural person.

Sections 10(3), 11 to 16, and 18 shall apply, with all necessary modifications, to a request made under subsection (1).

Where any person is given access to any personal information under this section, that person shall be advised of that person’s right, under section 25, to request the correction of that information.

Nothing in this section requires, or imposes any responsibility on, any local authority to compile files or data banks of personal information.

Where a request is made under section 23(1), the local authority—

Every person who is given access under section 23(1) to personal information may, by letter addressed to the local authority,—

Where a local authority receives a letter pursuant to subsection (1), it shall inform the person by whom or by which the letter was sent of the action taken by the local authority as a result of the letter.

A local authority may refuse to disclose any personal information requested under section 23(1), if, and only if,—

No reasons other than 1 or more of the reasons set out in subsection (1) justifies a refusal to disclose any personal information requested under section 23(1).

For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), the term evaluative material means evaluative or opinion material compiled solely—

It shall be a function of the Ombudsmen to investigate and review any decision by which a local authority—

It shall be a function of the Ombudsmen to investigate and review any decision by which the chief executive of a local authority, or an officer or employee of a local authority authorised by its chief executive, extends any time limit under section 14.

An investigation and review under subsection (1) or subsection (2) may be made by an Ombudsman only on complaint being made to an Ombudsman in writing or orally.

A complaint made orally must be put in writing as soon as practicable.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a refusal to make official information available includes, without limitation, a failure by the local authority to comply with section 13(1)—

Undue delay in making official information available in response to a request for that information shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (1), to be a refusal to make that information available.

If an Ombudsman receives a complaint that a local authority has refused to make official information available for any of the reasons specified in section 17(e) to (g), the Ombudsman may notify the Chief Archivist appointed under the Public Records Act 2005.

Except as otherwise provided by this Act, the provisions of the Ombudsmen Act 1975 shall apply in respect of investigations and other proceedings carried out under this Part in respect of decisions under Part 2 or section 8 as if they were investigations carried out under the Ombudsmen Act 1975.

Nothing in sections 13, 14, and 25 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975 shall apply in relation to any function or power conferred on an Ombudsman by this Act or in relation to any proceeding, decision, recommendation, or act of an Ombudsman under this Act.

Subject to this section, where, during the course of an investigation, under section 27, of any decision of any local authority, an Ombudsman, pursuant to any power conferred on that Ombudsman by section 19 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975, requires that local authority to furnish or produce to that Ombudsman any information or document or paper or thing that relates to that investigation, that local authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, and in no case later than 20 working days after the day on which that requirement is received by that local authority, comply with that requirement.

Where any requirement to which subsection (1) applies is made to any local authority, the chief executive of that local authority or an officer or employee of that local authority authorised by that chief executive may extend the time limit set out in subsection (1) in respect of that requirement if—

Any extension under subsection (2) shall be for a reasonable period of time having regard to the circumstances.

The extension shall be effected by giving or posting notice of the extension to the Ombudsman within 20 working days after the day on which the requirement is received.

The notice effecting the extension shall—

Where an Ombudsman investigates a complaint made under section 27 in relation to a refusal to make official information available in reliance on section 7(2)(a), the Ombudsman shall, before forming a final opinion under section 30 in relation to the merits of refusing that request on that ground, consult with the Privacy Commissioner under the Privacy Act 2020.

Where, after making an investigation of a complaint made under section 27, an Ombudsman is of the opinion—

the Ombudsman shall, subject to subsection (2) of this section,—

Notwithstanding anything in this section, an Ombudsman shall not, in any report made under this section, make any comment that is adverse to any person unless the person has been given an opportunity to be heard.

Except as provided in subsection (1), nothing in section 22 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975 shall apply in respect of a decision that may be investigated and reviewed under section 27(1) or section 27(2) of this Act.

An Ombudsman must not recommend that information be made available if—

However, the Ombudsman may recommend that the appropriate local authority give further consideration to making the information available.

Where a recommendation is made under section 30(1) to a local authority, a public duty to observe that recommendation shall be imposed on that local authority on the commencement of the 21st working day after the day on which that recommendation is made to the local authority unless, before that day, the local authority, by resolution made at a meeting of that local authority, decides otherwise and records that decision in writing.

The public duty imposed by subsection (1) shall be imposed not only on the local authority itself but also on—

As soon as practicable after a decision is made under subsection (1), the local authority making that decision shall give a copy of the decision to the Ombudsman who made the recommendation, and to the person in respect of whose request that recommendation was made.

Nothing in this section—

Every decision made by a local authority under section 32(1) shall be published in the Gazette and publicly notified within the district of that local authority as soon as practicable after it is made.

Every decision made under section 32(1) shall set out—

A decision made under section 32(1) in relation to a recommendation made under section 30(1) may be made for all or any of the reasons for the decision reviewed by the Ombudsman (being reasons that were before the Ombudsman when the recommendation was made) but for no other reasons.

Where—

the person who made that request may apply to the High Court for a review of that decision.

An application under subsection (1) may be made on the ground that the decision was beyond the powers conferred by sections 32 and 33 or was otherwise wrong in law.

On an application under subsection (1), the High Court may—

Unless the High Court is satisfied that an application brought under subsection (1) has not been reasonably or properly brought, it shall, in determining the application and irrespective of the result of the application, order that the costs of the applicant on a solicitor and client basis shall be paid by the local authority that made the decision in respect of which the application is brought.

Any party to an application under section 34 who is dissatisfied with any final or interlocutory order in respect of an application may appeal to the Court of Appeal; and section 56 of the Senior Courts Act 2016 shall apply to any such appeal.

The Ombudsman who investigates a complaint made for the purposes of section 27(3) shall inform the complainant, in such manner and at such time as that Ombudsman thinks proper, of the result of the investigation.

Where any person makes a request under this Act that official information be made available to that person and a decision to which section 27(1) or section 27(2) applies is made in relation to that request, that person—

unless a complaint made by that person in respect of that decision has first been determined under this Part.

It shall be a function of the Ombudsmen to investigate, pursuant to the Ombudsmen Act 1975, any decision made by a local authority under Part 3 or Part 4 of this Act, except a decision made under section 8 in relation to a request made under Part 3 or Part 4.

The provisions of section 29, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, shall apply in respect of any requirement, made by any Ombudsman in the course of any investigation conducted pursuant to subsection (1), whereby that Ombudsman, pursuant to any power conferred on that Ombudsman by section 19 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975, requires any local authority to furnish or produce to that Ombudsman any information or document or paper or thing that relates to that investigation.

Where the Ombudsman, after making an investigation, forms an opinion of the kind described in subsection (1) or subsection (2) or subsection (3) of section 22 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975, that Ombudsman shall, subject to subsection (6) of this section, report that Ombudsman’s opinion to the appropriate local authority, and may make such recommendations as that Ombudsman thinks fit in accordance with section 22(3) of the Ombudsmen Act 1975.

Where a report is made under subsection (3) to a local authority, the Ombudsman shall request the local authority to notify the Ombudsman, within a specified time, of the steps (if any) that the local authority proposes to take to give effect to the Ombudsman’s recommendations.

If, within a reasonable time after the report is made under section 22(3) of the Ombudsmen Act 1975 (as applied by subsection (3) of this section), no action is taken which seems to an Ombudsman to be adequate and appropriate, the Ombudsman shall, after considering the comments (if any) made by or on behalf of any local authority affected, inform the complainant of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and make such comments as the Ombudsman thinks fit in accordance with section 24 of the Ombudsmen Act 1975.

Notwithstanding anything in this section, an Ombudsman shall not, in any report made under this section, make any comment that is adverse to any person unless the person has first been given an opportunity to be heard.

If, in relation to any request for official information made under Part 3 or Part 4, any local authority fails within the time limit fixed by section 13(1) (or, where that time limit has been extended under this Act, within that time limit as so extended) to comply with paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of section 13(1), that failure shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (1), to be a decision made under Part 3 or Part 4.

Undue delay in giving any person access to official information in response to a request under Part 3 or Part 4 for access to that information shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (1), to be a decision made under Part 3 or Part 4.

Where an Ombudsman has prepared a report under section 38(3), the Ombudsman may prepare and send to the chief executive of the local authority concerned a written summary of the contents of that report and require that officer to make copies of that summary available during ordinary business hours for inspection by members of the public without charge. Any member of the public may make a copy of the whole or any part of the summary.

Before forwarding any such written summary to the appropriate chief executive under subsection (1), the Ombudsman shall send a copy of it in draft form to the local authority concerned for perusal, and shall, as far as practicable, incorporate in the summary any comments made to the Ombudsman by the local authority.

Within 1 week after the report is received by the local authority, the chief executive of that local authority shall, at the expense of the local authority, give public notice in such form and in such newspapers as the Ombudsman shall require of the availability of the report for inspection and of the places where it may be inspected.

Every such report shall be made available for a period of 4 weeks from the date of the first publication of the public notice.

Except as expressly provided in this Act, nothing in this Act shall derogate from or limit the functions of the Ombudsmen under the Ombudsmen Act 1975.

Where any official information is made available in good faith pursuant to Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4 by any local authority,—

The making available of, or the giving of access to, any official information in consequence of a request made under Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4 shall not be taken, for the purposes of the law relating to defamation or breach of confidence or infringement of copyright, to constitute an authorisation or approval of the publication of the document or of its contents by the person to whom the information is made available or the access is given.

A local authority may from time to time, either generally or particularly, delegate to any officer or employee of the local authority all or any of the powers of the local authority under Parts 2 to 5, except any powers specified in section 32.

Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions attached by the local authority, the officer or employee to whom any powers are delegated under this section may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on that officer or employee directly by this section and not by delegation.

Until a delegation made under this section is revoked, it shall continue in force according to its tenor.

Where a person purports to act pursuant to a delegation made under this section, that person shall be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation in the absence of proof to the contrary.

Any delegation under this section may be made to a specified officer or employee, or may be made to the holder for the time being of a specified office.

Every delegation made under this section shall be revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power by the local authority.

Any officer or employee of a local authority may from time to time, by writing under that officer’s or employee’s hand, either generally or particularly, delegate to any other officer or employee of the local authority all or any of the powers exercisable by the first-mentioned officer or employee under Parts 2 to 5 or section 46A, except—

Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions attached by the officer or employee making the delegation, the officer or employee to whom any powers are delegated under this section may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on that officer or employee directly by this section and not by delegation.

Until a delegation made under this section is revoked, it shall continue in force according to its tenor; and, in the event of the officer or employee by whom any such delegation has been made ceasing to hold office, the delegation shall continue to have effect as if made by the person for the time being holding the office of the officer or employee making the delegation.

Any delegation under this section may be made to a specified officer or employee, or may be made to the holder for the time being of any specified office.

Where any officer or employee purports to act pursuant to a delegation made under this section, that officer or employee shall be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation in the absence of proof to the contrary.

Every delegation made under this section shall be revocable at will and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power by the officer or employee making the delegation.

Nothing in Parts 1 to 5 authorises or permits the making available of any official information if the making available of that information would constitute contempt of court or of the House of Representatives.

Nothing in Parts 1 to 5 derogates from—

A person may apply to a territorial authority for the issue, within 10 working days, of a land information memorandum in relation to matters affecting any land in the district of the authority.

The matters which shall be included in that memorandum are—

In addition to the information provided for under subsection (2), a territorial authority may provide in the memorandum such other information concerning the land as the authority considers, at its discretion, to be relevant.

An application for a land information memorandum shall be in writing and shall be accompanied by any charge fixed by the territorial authority in relation thereto.

In the absence of proof to the contrary, a land information memorandum shall be sufficient evidence of the correctness, as at the date of its issue, of any information included in it pursuant to subsection (2).

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act, there shall be no grounds for the territorial authority to withhold information specified in terms of subsection (2) or to refuse to provide a land information memorandum where this has been requested.

The purpose of this section is to ensure that land information memoranda contain understandable information about the following in relation to land:

A land information memorandum must include—

The information must be summarised and presented in the land information memorandum in the form required by the regulations (if any).

A regional council must, as soon as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, provide to a territorial authority within or partly within its region—

The information must be summarised and presented in the form required by the regulations (if any).

A territorial authority, regional council, or water organisation is not liable in civil or criminal proceedings for making available in good faith,—

In this section, water organisation has the meaning given in section 4 of the Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025.

In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires,—

Despite subsection (1), meeting, in relation to a local authority that is a board of inquiry, special tribunal, or freshwater hearings panel given authority to conduct hearings under section 149J or 202 or clause 58 of Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act 1991, is limited to any hearing that—

Despite paragraph (b) of the definition of meeting in subsection (1), meeting, in relation to a water organisation within the meaning of the Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025, means a meeting of the board of the organisation and does not include a meeting of a committee or subcommittee of the board.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that any meeting of a local authority or of any committee or subcommittee of a local authority, at which no resolutions or decisions are made is not a meeting for the purposes of this Part.

The only provisions of this Part that apply to the following local authorities are sections 48 and 53:

Subject to subsection (2), every local authority shall, not more than 14 days and not less than 5 days before the end of every month, cause to be publicly notified a list of all meetings of that local authority scheduled to be held in the following month, together with the dates on which, and the times and places at which, those meetings are to be held.

Where any meeting of a local authority is to be held on or after the 21st day of any month, the local authority may, instead of causing that meeting to be publicly notified in accordance with subsection (1), cause that meeting to be publicly notified not more than 10 nor less than 5 working days before the day on which the meeting is to be held.

If an extraordinary or emergency meeting of a local authority is called and cannot be publicly notified in the manner required or permitted by subsections (1) and (2), the local authority must cause that meeting and the general nature of business to be transacted at that meeting—

No meeting of any local authority shall be invalid merely because that meeting was not publicly notified in accordance with this section.

Where a local authority becomes aware that any meeting of that local authority has not been publicly notified in accordance with this section, that local authority shall, as soon as practicable, give public notice that that meeting was not so notified, and shall, in that notice,—

Nothing in subsections (1) to (6) applies to a board constituted under subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Education and Training Act 2020, but every board must take all reasonable steps to ensure that parents (within the meaning of that Act) of students enrolled at schools that the board administers can readily find out, within a reasonable time before those meetings, where and when meetings of the board are to be held.

Nothing in this section applies to—

Subject to subsections (6) to (10), any member of the public may, without payment of a fee, inspect, during normal office hours, within a period of at least 2 working days before every meeting, all agendas and associated reports circulated to members of the local authority and relating to that meeting.

Subject to subsections (6) to (10), the agendas—

Subject to subsections (6) to (10), the associated reports shall be available for inspection under subsection (1) at the public offices of the local authority.

Any member of the public may take notes from any agenda or report inspected by that member of the public under subsection (1).

Every member of the public who inspects an agenda or report made available under subsection (1) and who requests a copy of any part of any such agenda or report and tenders the prescribed amount (if any) shall be given such a copy as soon as practicable.

Where a meeting is an extraordinary meeting called pursuant to a resolution of the local authority, the local authority must cause the agenda and any associated reports to be made available as soon as is reasonable in the circumstances.

An item that is not on the agenda for a meeting may be dealt with at the meeting if—

Where an item is not on the agenda for a meeting,—

The chief executive may exclude from the reports made available under subsection (1), reports or items from reports that he or she reasonably expects the meeting to discuss with the public excluded.

The chief executive shall indicate on each agenda the items that he or she reasonably expects the meeting to discuss with the public excluded.

Where agendas and associated reports are for meetings of community boards, it shall be sufficient for the purposes of this section that they be available for public viewing at the main office of the local authority and those service delivery centres and public libraries, if any, under the control of the local authority situated within the community.

Except as otherwise provided by this Part, every meeting of a local authority shall be open to the public.

Subject to subsection (3), a local authority may by resolution exclude the public from the whole or any part of the proceedings of any meeting only on 1 or more of the following grounds:

Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) applies to—

Every resolution excluding the public from any meeting shall be in the form set out in Schedule 2A and shall state—

Every resolution to exclude the public shall be put at a time when the meeting is open to the public, and the text of that resolution (or copies thereof)—

A resolution pursuant to subsection (1), may also provide for 1 or more specified persons to remain after the public has been excluded if that person, or persons, has or have, in the opinion of the local authority, knowledge that will assist the authority.

Where a local authority resolves that 1 or more persons may remain after the public has been excluded, the resolution must state the knowledge possessed by that person or those persons which will be of assistance in relation to the matter to be discussed and how it is relevant to that matter.

Where a meeting of a local authority is required by this Part to be open to the public during the proceedings or any part of them, the following provisions shall apply:

The person presiding at any meeting of any local authority may, if that person believes, on reasonable grounds, that the behaviour of any member of the public attending that meeting is likely to prejudice or to continue to prejudice the orderly conduct of that meeting if that member of the public is permitted to remain in that meeting, require that member of the public to leave the meeting.

If any member of the public who is required, pursuant to subsection (1), to leave a meeting of a local authority—

any constable, or any officer or employee of the local authority, may, at the request of the person presiding at the meeting, remove or, as the case may require, exclude that member of the public from the meeting.

Any member of the public may, without payment of fee, at the local authority’s office and during normal office hours, inspect the minutes of any meeting or part of any meeting of the local authority (not being a meeting or part of a meeting from which the public was excluded) and may take notes therefrom.

Every member of the public so inspecting any such minutes who requests a copy of any part thereof and tenders the prescribed amount (if any) shall be given such a copy.

Where any person requests a copy of the minutes of any meeting or part of a meeting from which the public was excluded pursuant to this Part, the request shall,—

and shall be dealt with by that local authority accordingly.

A local authority must, as soon as practicable, publicly notify any resolution passed at an extraordinary meeting of the local authority unless—

For the purposes of this section, resolution means the resolution on the matter or matters for which the extraordinary meeting was held.

Where a meeting of any local authority is open to the public during the proceedings or any part thereof, and—

the publication thereby of any defamatory matter included in the agenda or in the further statements or particulars or in the minutes shall be privileged unless, in any proceedings for defamation in respect of that publication, the plaintiff proves that, in publishing the matter, the defendant was predominantly motivated by ill will towards the plaintiff, or otherwise took improper advantage of the occasion of publication.

Any oral statement made at any meeting of a local authority in accordance with the rules that have been adopted by that local authority for the guidance and order of its proceedings shall be privileged, unless, in any proceedings for defamation in respect of the statement, the plaintiff proves that, in making the statement, the defendant was predominantly motivated by ill will towards the plaintiff, or otherwise took improper advantage of the occasion of publication.

The privilege conferred by subsection (1) is in addition to and not in substitution for or derogation of any other privilege, whether absolute or qualified, that applies, by virtue of any other enactment or rule of law, to the proceedings of any local authority.

Any provisions in any enactment in relation to attendance by the public at any meeting of any local authority or at any meeting of any committee or subcommittee of any local authority, or in relation to inspection of the minutes of any such meeting, shall be read subject to the provisions of this Part.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:

The Minister must not recommend that regulations be made for the purposes of Part 6A unless they have consulted—

However, the Minister is not required to consult the entities set out in subsection (1A)(a) if satisfied that a proposed amendment to regulations has no more than a minor effect, corrects errors, or makes similar technical alterations.

Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Where any class of local authority named in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 is abolished, or its name is altered, or any specified local authority named in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 is abolished, or its name is altered, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make such amendments to those schedules as may be necessary to give effect to the abolition or alteration.

An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

The enactments specified in Schedule 3 are hereby amended in the manner indicated in that schedule.

Amendment(s) incorporated in the Act(s).

The enactments specified in Schedule 4 are hereby repealed.

The Orders in Council specified in Schedule 5 are hereby revoked.

The transitional provisions set out in Schedule 6 have effect for the purposes of this Act.

The provisions relate to amendments made to this Act on or after the commencement of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Act 2013.