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Natural Environment Bill

Enforcement and other matters - Miscellaneous - Hearings to be held in public and protection of sensitive information

337: Hearing to be held in public and orders protecting sensitive information

You could also call this:

"Hearings are open to the public, but sensitive information can be protected if needed."

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

If a hearing is held under the proposed Natural Environment Bill, it must be open to the public. You can ask for an order to protect sensitive information if you think it's necessary. This could be to avoid offending tikanga Māori or to keep a trade secret safe. A relevant authority can make an order to protect sensitive information if they think it's necessary. They can decide to hold a hearing in private or stop people from sharing certain information. This order can last forever or just for a certain amount of time. If an order to protect sensitive information ends, the rules from the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 will apply. You can ask the Environment Court to change or cancel an order if you don't agree with it. A relevant authority is usually a local authority or someone who is allowed to hold a hearing under the proposed bill. The proposed bill says what a relevant authority can and can't do. You should know that a relevant authority does not include the Planning Tribunal, the Environment Court, or any other court. The rules in the proposed Natural Environment Bill are meant to balance the need to keep some information secret with the public's right to know what's going on.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1557357.

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Environment and resources > Town planningGovernment and voting > Local councilsRights and equality > Privacy
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336: Amendments to other legislation, or

"Changes to other laws to help the environment"

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Schedule 1: Transitional, savings, and related provisions, or

"Changes to help move to the new Natural Environment law"

Part 6Enforcement and other matters
Miscellaneous: Hearings to be held in public and protection of sensitive information

337Hearing to be held in public and orders protecting sensitive information

  1. A hearing held under this Act by a relevant authority must be held in public.

  2. A relevant authority may, at their own initiative or on the application of any party to a proceedings, make an order protecting sensitive information if satisfied that—

  3. the order is necessary—
    1. to avoid serious offence to tikanga Māori or to avoid the disclosure of the location of any wāhi tapu; or
      1. to avoid the disclosure of a trade secret or unreasonable prejudice to the commercial position of the person who supplied, or is the subject of, the information; and
      2. in the circumstances, the importance of avoiding such offence, disclosure, or prejudice outweighs the public interest in making that information available; and
        1. any prescribed requirements are met.

          1. An order protecting sensitive information may—

          2. require that all or part of any hearing at which the information is likely to be referred to must be held with the public excluded:
            1. prohibit or restrict the publication or communication of any information supplied to or obtained by the relevant authority in the course of any proceedings, whether or not the information is material to those proceedings.

              1. A relevant authority may make an order subsection (3)(b) that applies—

              2. indefinitely or until a date fixed by the hearings authority as appropriate in the circumstances, if the order relates to a matter described in subsection (2)(a)(i); or
                1. until the close of the relevant proceedings but no longer, in any other case.

                  1. If an order made under subsection (3)(b) ends, the provisions of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 apply to the information that was subject to the order.

                  2. A party any proceedings may apply to the Environment Court under clause 17(1)(a) of Schedule 9—

                  3. for an order cancelling or varying any order made under this section; or
                    1. for an order protecting sensitive information, if a relevant authority has declined to make an order under this section.

                      1. In this section, relevant authority—

                      2. means—
                        1. a local authority; or
                          1. any other person or body authorised to hold a hearing under this Act; but
                          2. does not include the Planning Tribunal, the Environment Court, or any other court.