OIAD-3884
8 May 2024
T Peters
[FYI request #26088 email]
Tēnā koe,
Thank you for your request to the Department of Conservation (the Department), received on
13 March 2024, in which you asked for:
-
all communications, including confirmation/approvals relating to (the extra $5m per
year from a Budget 2022 allocation to DOC that has been directed to Predator Free
2050 Ltd)
-
all communications, including confirmation/approvals relating to the extension of Jobs
For Nature money by two years.
We have considered your request under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (OIA).
On 5 April 2023, we extended the timeframe to respond to your request to 3 May 2024, as
the information you are seeking is of a large quantity, and necessary consultation. On 3 May
2024 we advised you that we would grant your request and provide you with the information
by 10 May 2024.
Your questions and our responses are listed below:
1. Al communications, including confirmation/approvals relating to (the extra
$5m per year from a Budget 2022 allocation to DOC that has been directed to
Predator Free 2050 Ltd)
On 6 October 2023, Predator Free 2050 Ltd (PF2050 Ltd) made a formal request to the
Department for an additional $5 million per annum, from 1 July 2024, to support landscape
projects. The request is to ensure priority projects, funded by PF2050 Ltd, are maintained
once Jobs for Nature funding comes to an end. It followed a series of meetings between
PF2050 Ltd and the Department in August 2023 and September 2023.
During this time, the Department, PF2050 Ltd, and other key partners, commenced
development of a programme-wide
Implementation Plan; refining roles and responsibilities
for its delivery. The
Implementation Plan identifies a key strategic focus for PF2050 Ltd on
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unlocking rural and urban areas where knowledge for eradication lags behind experience in
backcountry environments.
On 9 February 2024, the Department’s Director-General, Penny Nelson, agreed in principle
to provide PF2050 Ltd with $5 million in funding per annum, for three years, to ‘support
existing priority projects to unlock cost ef ective and scalable eradication methodologies in
urban and rural environments’.
We are releasing 10 documents relating to part one of your request. These documents are
outlined in
Table 1, below. The documents include a range of internal emails and briefings,
as well as communications between the Department and Predator Free 2050 Ltd.
2. Al communications, including confirmation/approvals relating to the extension
of Jobs For Nature money by two years
As part of the Jobs for Nature programme, PF2050 Ltd received $76 million to create
employment, while scaling up planned predator control projects. PF2050 Ltd allocated this
funding across 15 sub-projects around New Zealand.
In June 2023, the timeframe of the Jobs for Nature programme was extended from 30 June
2024 to 30 June 2025. In September 2023, PF2050 Ltd formally requested a two-year
timeframe extension of 14 of the sub-projects from June 2024 to June 2026. Further clarity
was sought on the details of the request, and it was approved on 27 November 2024.
We are releasing, in response to part two of your request, a range of emails and documents
relating to the two-year extension request, along with the final decision letter, as outlined in
Table 2, below.
For context, no further funding has been allocated as a result of the extension. The extension
supports a request to realign existing remaining funding. The Department wil continue to
work with all recipients of Jobs for Nature funding to ensure quality reporting and
demonstrate programme achievements.
Please note that some information in the documents listed in
Table 1, and
Table 2, below, is
withheld pursuant to the following sections of the OIA:
• personal contact details of officials, under section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of
natural persons, including deceased people,
• commercially sensitive information, under section 9(2)(b)(i ) – to protect the
commercial position of the person who supplied the information, or who is the subject
of the information,
• advice stil under consideration, section 9(2)(f)(iv) – to maintain the current
constitutional conventions protecting the confidentiality of advice tendered by
Ministers and officials,
• free and frank expression under section 9(2)(g)(i) – to maintain the effective conduct
of public affairs.
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In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the OIA and determined there are no public interests that outweigh the grounds for withholding.
You are entitled to seek an investigation and review of my decision by writing to an
Ombudsman as provided by section 28(3) of the OIA.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and attached documents
may be published on the Department’s website.
If you would like to discuss this response with us, please contact Brent Beaven, by email to
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Hilary Aikman
Director, Terrestrial Biodiversity
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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Table 1 - Schedule of documents - part 1
Item Date
Document description
Decision
1
07/09/23
Initial request for additional funding from
Released in part
Denise Church to Penny Nelson
2
18/09/23
DG Meeting Briefing – PF2050 Ltd Chair
Released in part
3
20/09/23
Emails – Phone conversation on predator Released in part
free
4
12/09/23-27/09/23 Emails on meeting summary
Released in part
5
06/10/23
Letter from CEO Predator Free 2050 Ltd
Released in part.
to the Department “Additional funding for
landscape projects”
6
09/10/23-11/09/23 Emails on funding application PF2050 Ltd Released in part
7
30/01/24
D-G Briefing
Released in part.
8
09/02/24
Email on D-G Briefing
Released in full
9
19/09/24
Emails on PF info as requested by Penny Released in part
Nelson
10
08/03/24-12/03/24 Texts – PF2050 Ltd (CEO Rob Forlong) & Released in full
DOC (Deputy Director General
Biodiversity, Heritage and Visitor,
Stephanie Rowe)
Table 2 - Schedule of documents - part 2
Item Date
Document description
Decision
1
29/8/23-27/11/23 Pg 40 - Emails regarding the request for a Released in part.
two-year extension.
3
23/11/23
Pg 70 – DDG Briefing JFN0028 JFN
Released in part
PF2050 Ltd project extension request
4
27/11/23
Pg 83 – Decision Letter to Predator Free
Released in part
2050 Ltd
5
25/05/23
Pg 86 – One page of Briefing Note 23-
Released in part
BRF-3263 SLU Ministers update
[Al other parts of Briefing are out of scope]
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