Justice Minister's Briefing 'Redactions' Able To Be Read
A briefing document on the justice sector for the incoming ministers has been released with parts that were meant to be kept secret still accessible. The document has been removed from the Ministry of Justice website but a Scoop copy is available here.
This Justice Sector BIM: http://t.co/ldMkw1zBmn if you copy withheld parts under OIA into word document it becomes visible. cc @felixmarwick
— Lamia (@LI_politico) November 13, 2014
An example: pic.twitter.com/GMsyqPYbYR
— Lamia (@LI_politico) November 13, 2014
Twitter user @LI_politico pointed out that many parts of the document marked as removed could be copied and pasted. Or even…
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading@LI_politico @felixmarwick oh god it's just white text. You can have your phone read it out loud to you if you select it. Brilliant
— The Egonomist (@TheEgonomist) November 13, 2014
Extensive redactions – sometimes of entire sections – have been made in the ministerial briefings which were released on Wednesday. Many redactions are made citing Section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Official Information Act - conventions which protect "the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials".
The first non-deletion in the Justice document, at the end of the Executive Summary, reads "Sustaining an effective and trusted justice system does, however, require a level of baseline funding that is now under some pressure."
More details:
Justice Ministry's briefing botch-up - National - NZ Herald News