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Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994

Miscellaneous provisions - Miscellaneous provisions

61: Mediation conference

You could also call this:

"A meeting to help resolve a complaint, where people talk and try to find a solution together."

Illustration for Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994

The Commissioner can call a meeting with the people involved in a complaint to try to resolve the issue. You will get a written notice with the date, time, and place of the meeting. The Commissioner can also invite other people to attend the meeting if they think it will help resolve the issue.

The Commissioner can pay fees, allowances, and expenses to the people attending the meeting, including you, if you are a party to the complaint. This is similar to what happens in a court, and the Commissioner follows the same rules as the Criminal Procedure Act 2011. The Commissioner has the power to decide how much to pay.

What you say at the meeting is private and cannot be used as evidence in court.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM334135.

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Part 5Miscellaneous provisions
Miscellaneous provisions

61Mediation conference

  1. Where, in respect of any matter that is the subject of a complaint made to, or an investigation by, the Commissioner, the Commissioner is of the opinion that it would be appropriate to do so, the Commissioner may call a conference of the parties concerned in an endeavour to resolve the matter by agreement between those parties.

  2. Any such conference may be called by a notice in writing signed by the Commissioner notifying the date, time, and place of the conference.

  3. In addition to the parties or their representatives, the Commissioner may also invite to attend the conference any other person whose attendance would in the Commissioner’s opinion be likely to assist in resolving the matter by agreement between the parties.

  4. There may be paid, out of the funds of the Commissioner,—

  5. to each party or to the representatives of each party, to the number determined by the Commissioner as being necessary to enable that party to be adequately represented, attending any conference called under this section; and
    1. to any person (other than the Commissioner) attending any conference pursuant to subsection (3),—
        1. fees, allowances, and expenses as if the parties or their representatives and those persons were witnesses in a court, and, for that purpose,—
      1. the provisions of any regulations in that behalf under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 shall apply accordingly; and
        1. the Commissioner shall have the powers of a court under any such regulations to fix or disallow, in whole or in part, or to increase, any amounts payable under the regulations.

          1. No evidence shall be admissible in any court, or before any person acting judicially, of any information, statement, or admission disclosed or made to any person in the course of a conference called under this section.

          Compare
          • 1987 No 77 ss 249, 250(2)
          Notes
          • Section 61(1): amended, on , by section 17 of the Health and Disability Commissioner Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 49).
          • Section 61(4)(c): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).