Urgent debate to be held in Parliament after official's leaked OIA comments

The Ministry of Education says comments from a senior official telling staff not to put certain information in writing are “inconsistent” with expectations of staff and obligations under the Official Information Act.

The matter will also be subject to an urgent debate in the House this afternoon, after Speaker Gerry Brownlee granted a request from Labour’s Ginny Andersen.

“The official information system is an important pillar of our democracy and largely operates on the basis of good faith,” said Brownlee. “Significant challenges to the operation of the Act warrant the attention of the House and the Government.”

It follows a leaked video, obtained exclusively by the Herald, showing Dr Catherine Law, the programme lead for the secondary school curriculum refresh, telling workers not to put in writing that “stuff has gone backwards and forwards” with the minister’s office.

She notes the information is “OIA-able”, referring to the Official Information Act, a freedom of information law allowing New Zealanders to request official information about activities and correspondence within government.

“The matter is being addressed directly with the employee in question,” a ministry spokesperson told the Herald. “It would not be appropriate to comment on an individual employee while those processes are underway.”

The ministry is also launching an internal review “to provide assurance that this is an isolated incidence”, the spokesperson said. It has been in contact with the Ombudsman and the Public Service Commission.

When the Herald approached the ministry on Monday about the comments, it would not say if it thought they were appropriate or in line with expectations, but emphasised adherence to OIA obligations was a responsibility of staff “and must be reflected throughout their work”.

On Tuesday, the spokesperson said, “suggestions that information should not be recorded in writing to avoid scrutiny are completely unacceptable and undermine trust in the public service”.

The Ombudsman and the Public Service Commission (PSC) have been contacted for comment. The Herald has also attempted to contact Law through the ministry and the school where she’s a principal.

The video is of an online meeting held recently in which Law said staff in the minister’s office may provide feedback on material from the ministry relating to the new subjects. She told those in the meeting that she would communicate with them if there were any questions.

“What I just need to say to you all, to make sure I have said it and it is really clear, is: I will communicate to you saying, ‘this is a bit of informal feedback’, ‘could you just, da da da da’,” Law said.

“Please don’t respond with anything that references the minister’s office. Remember all of this is OIA-able. This is them helping us. What we do not need is anything in response in writing that shows that this stuff has gone backwards and forwards between them and us.”

Law says to be “really mindful” during this “process”, which she says comes “before we start the formal one, which is through the bags and that is all formal and public and transparent”.

“You will notice I will just use passive verbs and just say this, so as far as anyone is concerned it is just some feedback from me.”

Dr Catherine Law was speaking at a meeting when she made the comments.

The Ministry of Education has said the meeting took place as “officials were managing feedback and workload” across 74 subject drafts due for release in Term 4.

The minister previously told the Herald that curriculum documents had been sent to a ministry official based in her office, but she had not received them herself.

The Labour Party on Tuesday morning called for a Public Service Commission investigation.

Education spokeswoman Ginny Andersen said the video raised “serious questions about instructions given to Ministry of Education staff to keep political matters out of emails and avoid OIA scrutiny, following conversations with Erica Stanford’s office”.

She said “any breach of public service obligations must be properly investigated and the public deserves answers”.

Stanford told the Herald she had spoken with the Secretary of Education and was “confident that she’s got this in hand”. The pair met yesterday, Stanford said.

“She’s already talked to the Public Service Commission. She’s already talked to the Ombudsman and she’s already looking into the matter and taking it very seriously,” Stanford said.

Labour has questioned whether the minister’s office instructed officials to “keep political matters off emails”.

Asked if anyone in her office had instructed Law to make it clear to staff not to put information in writing, Stanford responded: “My officials and myself have never ever said to anybody to subvert the course of the OIA. We take our obligations extremely seriously and this is a matter for the Secretary of Education and her staff.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford says the matter is being dealt to by the ministry. Photo / Mark Mitchell

She reiterated a previous comment to the Herald that neither she nor her political staff had yet received the secondary school curriculum documents. An official seconded from the ministry to her office had, which Stanford said was the normal process.

“The seconded staff make sure that they’re in the right order for me, that they are appropriate for me to see and then I see them, but I haven’t seen them yet.”

Stanford repeated that this was an “internal ministry matter”.

“The Secretary of Education has already contacted the Public Service Commission, the Ombudsman, and is taking appropriate actions as she should.”

Asked if she found the comments disturbing, Stanford said: “Well, of course, if anyone is not complying with the OIA, then that is a serious matter and the Secretary of Education is taking it very seriously”.

Labour's Ginny Andersen is wanting an investigation into the matter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Andersen has also called on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to explain what had occurred.

“This is not how a transparent government should operate, and the Prime Minister cannot simply brush it aside,” she said.

Luxon said it was an issue for the Ministry of Education.

He denied creating a culture of avoiding accountability and transparency. He hadn’t asked for an explanation from the ministry about what had happened in this case.

The Taxpayers’ Union’s Rhys Hurley backed Labour’s call for an investigation into the matter, but wanted it to be established if “this is happening across the entire public service”.

“Labour is bang on to demand an investigation into the Ministry of Education. If officials are being told to keep things out of writing because they could be released under the OIA, taxpayers deserve to know how far that practice goes.”

The Government is progressing development of a “knowledge-rich curriculum”, drawing on sector expertise.

Work began last year on the Phase 5 Year 11-13 component of the programme.

Last November, Law was seconded from her role as Avonside Girls’ High School principal to be programme lead on the senior curriculum update. This involved engaging people in the sector as subject advisers, who would help with the design.

Consultation was undertaken on draft curriculum subjects throughout mid-2026, with public communications emphasising how hundreds of subject advisers and others in the sector had contributed to their development.

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.