Equal Pay Amendment Bill. Who made the decision for urgency and WHY?

Kia ora Tracy Lynch,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I acknowledge your email of 15/05/2026 requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982, the following:

 

Re: DOIA-REQ-0032949

For clarity, if MBIE’s position is that MBIE did not provide advice on some or most of the relevant decisions, and was instead asked to implement decisions already made by Ministers, that is itself highly material to the request.

Please therefore confirm whether MBIE’s formal position is that:

1. MBIE did not provide advice on most of the decisions concerning the Equal Pay Amendment Bill, the use of urgency, and the absence of a select committee process;

2. MBIE was asked to implement decisions after Ministers had already decided what they wanted;

3. MBIE holds any records showing when, how, and by whom those ministerial decisions were communicated to MBIE;

4. MBIE intends to transfer any parts of the request to the Minister’s office, DPMC, Cabinet Office, Treasury, Crown Law, or any other agency more closely connected with the decisions;

5. MBIE will identify the searches undertaken before relying on any refusal ground that information does not exist or cannot be found.

This request is not limited to documents authored by MBIE. It includes information held by MBIE, including information received from Ministers, ministerial offices, Cabinet processes, DPMC, Treasury, Crown Law, or other agencies.

If MBIE’s role was implementation rather than advice, I still request all records held by MBIE concerning that implementation role, including:

– taskings;
– instructions;
– emails;
– timelines;
– Cabinet-related material;
– communications material;
– draft advice;
– implementation documents;
– records identifying who made the relevant decisions;
– records identifying when MBIE was first instructed to act;
– records identifying what analysis, if any, MBIE was asked to prepare or not prepare.

Please also ensure MBIE’s response clearly identifies:

1. which parts of the request MBIE says it holds information for;

2. which parts MBIE says it does not hold information for;

3. whether MBIE searched the relevant policy, ministerial servicing, Cabinet, employment relations, regulatory impact, fiscal, and communications records;

4. whether MBIE holds records showing that decisions had already been made by Ministers before MBIE was asked to implement them;

5. the Minister, ministerial office, Cabinet committee, Cabinet Office, DPMC, Treasury, Crown Law, or other agency most closely connected with each part of the request;

6. whether each part has been transferred under section 14 of the Official Information Act 1982 where MBIE is not the agency most closely connected with the information;

7. if MBIE refuses any part on the basis that the information does not exist or cannot be found, the exact section 18 ground relied upon and the searches undertaken before reaching that conclusion..

Please also confirm whether MBIE holds, or has access to, any of the following categories:

– Cabinet papers, Cabinet minutes, or Cabinet committee records relating to the Bill;
– regulatory impact material, including any RIS, Supplementary Analysis Report, exemption, waiver, or Treasury/RIA panel material;
– advice on existing pay equity claims affected by the Bill;
– advice on fiscal savings, avoided liabilities, or Crown financial exposure;
– advice or communications concerning the use of urgency;
– advice or communications concerning the absence of a select committee process;
– ministerial talking points, communications lines, media Q&A, or risk material;
– records concerning the public explanation that urgency was used to draw a “line in the sand” or avoid a rush of claims.

Please preserve your email below as part of the administrative record relevant to this OIA request.

If MBIE considers the request broad, I remain willing to discuss refinement. However, any refinement must preserve the core request for records concerning:

– who made the decision to use urgency;
– who decided there would be no select committee process;
– what advice or analysis existed before those decisions were made;
– what claims and workers were expected to be affected;
– what fiscal or liability implications were identified;
– what legal, constitutional, human rights, or procedural fairness risks were identified;
– which agency or Minister holds the records if MBIE does not.

Please treat this email as a request that MBIE not issue a broad refusal without first confirming the actual searches undertaken, the decision-makers identified, and any section 14 transfers required.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no later than 15/06/2026, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us via email to [email protected].

 

Nāku noa, nā

Ministerial Services

Strategy and Assurance
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140