This is a typical reply from MPI. We are talking about our health here. Note we don’t take no as an answer.

Ministry for Primary Industries
Charles Fergusson Building
38-42 Bowen Street
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
mpi.govt.nz
OIA26-0312
5 May 2026
Tracy Lynch
[email protected]
Dear Tracy,
Thank you for your email of 20 April 2026 requesting information relating to decision-making
frameworks, environmental monitoring, and institutional learning across historical and current
environmental interventions. Your request has been considered under the Official Information
Act 1982 (OIA).
You requested the following:
1. Decision-Making Frameworks
a. Documents describing frameworks used in predator control (including 2019
beech mast response).
b. Documents describing frameworks used in current environmental or gene
technology decisions.
c. Criteria, thresholds, or triggers used to initiate or justify interventions.
2. Risk Identification and Assessment
a. Records showing how risks were identified and assessed.
b. Comparisons of short-term vs long-term risks.
c. Consideration of environmental, economic, and public health impacts.
3. Post-Implementation Review and Learning
a. Reviews or audits of predator control and toxin operations.
b. Documents identifying lessons learned or unintended consequences.
c. Recommendations for future improvements.
4. Incorporation of Lessons
a. Records showing how lessons were applied to current frameworks.
b. Reasons where lessons were not applied.
5. Environmental Contaminants and Monitoring
a. Documents describing environmental monitoring frameworks.
b. Substances currently monitored and known monitoring gaps.
c. Records relating to microplastics, chemical residues, or emerging
contaminants.
d. Assessments of contamination linked to interventions.
e. Audits identifying monitoring limitations or blind spots.
6. Accountability and Oversight
a. Identification of decision-makers and oversight mechanisms.
b. Records assessing failures or process limitations.
2
On 28 April 2026, you refined your request to:
1. Post-implementation reviews and lessons learned from predator control and toxin
operations.
2. Evidence of how those lessons have been incorporated into current decision-
making frameworks, including any that relate to emerging technologies (including
gene technology).
3. Environmental monitoring frameworks, including known monitoring gaps or
limitations.
2. Refined Scope of Information Requested
Please limit searches to final reports, briefings, or review documents (not all
underlying data).
A. Post-Implementation Review and Learning
– Final reports, audits, or formal reviews relating to predator control or toxin
operations.
– Documents summarising lessons learned, unintended consequences, or identified
risks.
B. Incorporation into Current Frameworks
– Any briefings, internal papers, or policy documents (since 2020) that:
– Refer to prior predator control/toxin operations, and
– Show how lessons learned were applied (or reasons why they were not applied).
C. Environmental Monitoring Frameworks
– Current (post-2020) documents describing:
– Environmental monitoring frameworks used by the Ministry.
– Identified monitoring gaps, blind spots, or limitations.
– Any reference to emerging contaminants (including microplastics or chemical
residues), where such documents already exist in summary or report form.
3. Timeframe
Please limit the search to the period: 1 January 2018 – present
Your refined request is seeking a significant amount of information over a 6-year period. This
information is likely not held centrally and would require extensive input from several
business units across MPI to research and collate. We are refusing your request under
section 18(f) of the OIA – that the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research.
Should you have any concerns with this response, I would encourage you to raise these with
the Ministry for Primary Industries at [email protected]. Alternatively, you
are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143 or at
[email protected].
Yours sincerely,
John Walsh
Director Pest Management