Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier criticises Deputy Health Minister Casey Costello for hiding tobacco documents

The minister said she had only been given a copy of the notes that were placed on her desk and her staff told her they did not know who had written them.

Boshier found that Costello had made reasonable efforts to determine who had written or compiled the notes and had the opportunity to reject the request on the basis that she did not have information about the authors of the notes.

However, he was concerned that the deputy minister had been unable to produce any documents about the source of the notes.

Boshier said in a statement that he took the “rare step” of notifying the chief archivist about the recordkeeping problems.

Costello found that the fact that she did not cite any basis for the OIA’s refusal to provide information in refusing the request was unlawful.

He recommended that Costello review the manner in which she handled the application and take steps to address the identified deficiencies.

Document

In December 2023, RNZ wrote to newly appointed Minister Costello asking for all documents relating to tobacco and vaping policy under the Access to Official Information Act.

She refused to provide any information.

RNZ has revealed a tobacco policy document her office sent to health officials that was highly political in tone and content, describing the previous Labor government’s smoke-free policies as “ideological nonsense that no other country has been foolish enough to implement” and saying New Zealanders were “guinea pigs in their radical policy experiment”.

In February, Labour asked in a written parliamentary question who had written the document, and Costello replied: “No specific document was written. Officials were given a range of information, including material such as Hansard “NZ First’s reports, coalition agreement and previous policy positions.”

RNZ asked the Chief Ombudsman to launch an investigation, which ruled that Costello had acted “inconsistent with the law” by withholding information and forced her to apologise and release the documents.

In response to RNZ’s freedom of information request, Costello confirmed the document’s existence but said she did not know who wrote it – only that the author did not work in her office.

“The document you refer to was not generated or compiled by any member of my office and was not received in paper form until December 6,” she wrote.

She added that she still does not know who wrote the document or who gave it to her.

RNZ asked Costello whether she could rule out the tobacco industry being involved in the mystery document if she did not know its author, and also why she would have handed the document to officials without knowing its origins.

She did not respond to specific questions but said she had no ties to the tobacco industry and was not involved with it in any way.

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