I was very impressed to see yesterday that NZTA have made the decision to publish all their OIA responses to media outlets (I wonder if we count?) on their website. Here’s the press release:
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) is today launching a new addition to the media information section of the NZTA website, where the agency will publish its responses to Official Information Act (OIA) requests from media organisations.
The new section is aimed at providing an additional resource for journalists and members of the public seeking information from the agency.
Responses to most OIA requests from media will be published on the NZTA website one day after the response is provided to the media organisation which has made the request. This will provide the media organisation which has requested the information a period of time to review the response before it becomes available to members of the public and other media outlets.
Responses to OIA requests provided to media since October 2012 have been made available at http://www.nzta.govt.nz/about/media/oia.html, and new responses will be published as they are provided to media outlets.
This is a really positive step towards greater transparency from NZTA. Next step is to get them to publish the Board papers online.
Processing...
Maybe an OIA request from a media organisation for the board papers would do the trick?
This is a good move from the NZTA and should perhaps be extended further to all OIA requests providing that there aren’t any personal details released. I would also like other agencies to follow suit.
Dan – The problem is you still have to request every single board meeting every month. It would be much easier if they just did their normal consultations, and blacking out of the relevant parts and then released it.