NZ Chief Ombudsman – Arrogance Personified!

Ombudsman Office does not ‘go to bat for you’ to get overdue OIA responses – they merely ‘encourage’ the agencies to do so (nor care whether the responses are truthful!) Of the circa 40 overdue OIAs referred to Office, even when requesting generic documents unrelated to my Police performance complaint & ruled in my favour, they did not source a single response!

On 20 October 2023, I “URGENT & VERY IMPORTANT” emailed Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier (Christopher Luxon, Kenneth Johnson, Kevin Currie, Liz Sinclair & Simon Murdoch – IPCA Board Members, and Mark Mitchell) “As…Coster’s Office has a Terrible track record of Totally Ignoring the Public (Me 100+ times since August 2021!)!!…, I am looking for a volunteer to bring my attached complaint to his Urgent attention”. With just 2 minutes effort; Boshier (or the others) could have had this issue ‘nipped in the bud’ only a week after it began – he (they) did not respond or take any action.

In terms of pursuing overdue OIA requests, this Office is an arrogant stubborn ‘wet bus ticket’. On 2 February 2023 & 7 May 2024, Boshier sent me “I have written to Police drawing attention to requirement for timeliness & indicating I will be monitoring and, as part of Ombudsman’s overview of OIA performance, reporting on & drawing public attention to cases where there is demonstrable non-compliance. I have reported my final opinion to the Minister of Police” letters. As Boshier probably sent such a letter to the Police Commissioner & Minister 2 or 3 times every week, it was a pointless exercise – they binned them, without making any improvements to Police’s OIA requests management.

Office does not ‘go to bat for you’ to get overdue OIA responses – they merely ‘encourage’ the agencies to do so, nor care whether the responses are truthful! Even though Peter Boshier wrote to Coster “I have formed the final opinion there has been a failure to meet the requirements imposed by the OIA”, Sarah Ramsay – Intake & Early Assistance Manager still meekly accepted Police’s refusal to answer my OIA requests! Despite involvement of 7 Office personnel over 3 years, I still have 14 overdue OIA responses – with Police showing no willingness to respond.

Over the 3 years I have engaged with this Office, 13 times (6 times writing 2-3 pages letters, 2/3 of which were directed to Boshier/John Owen – Early Resolution Manager) I have requested very simple clarification/confirmation – to no avail! Office keep claiming “OIA does not oblige agencies to create information to respond to requests – only existing documents can be requested”. However, their own directive directly contradicts their claim. Specifically: “On request, any unrecorded information held in minds of employees should be reduced to writing & released. Reducing unrecorded information to writing doesn’t amount to the creation of new information. Rather, it is the provision of existing information in a different form” & “Information held in electronic databases that can be retrieved is still held for purpose of the OIA. Retrieval of the data in this way does not amount to the creation of new information”. Both the directive & their claim can’t be true at the same time. 

The “only existing documents can be requested” rule applies to Ministers – the broader directive applies to Government agencies. This Office are incorrectly enforcing OIA by claiming the rule applies to all Government employees, to the detriment of the Public and the accountability & transparency spirit of the Act! Very ‘disappointing’ this Office ignored my 13 ‘invitations’ to find the decency/humility/professionalism to correct their OIA understanding. Even though it quotes a highly relevant case to mine which confirms my OIA understanding is correct, they kept overlooking their own directive – pretending it does not exist!

(Lobby for Good are receiving numerous reports from NZers who have been failed by the very agency designed to protect them – Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is supposed to be Public’s last resort when government agencies fail or make unreasonable decisions.

But what happens when Ombudsman gets it wrong? What happens when they dismiss valid complaints or side with government agencies without proper investigations? Nothing! There is no independent body you can complain to if the Ombudsman fails you. The only option is expensive High Court judicial review – which is not appropriate or out of reach for most people. The system effectively ‘forces’ you to give up! That is not good enough – accountability cannot have a dead end.

Lobby for Good is gathering confidential reports to understand the scale of this issue. Please share & sign this public signature count)

On 3 April 2025, (despite confirming Police cause his Office the most OIA problems), received an ‘interesting’ letter from new Chief Ombudsman John Allen. Instead of focusing on the overdue OIA responses – as he should have, Allen had inappropriately ‘extensively’ delved into my Police experience – “My office has reviewed hundreds of pieces of correspondence (provided by Police) to try to understand the specific basis for your grievance”! Based on Police providing him cherrypicked emails without context, Allen’s provisional opinion was to refuse provision of the OIA responses on the basis my requests were “frivolous or vexatious”.

Over the next 4 days, compiled & sent Allen 5 documents (total of 24 pages):
– correcting the numerous ‘inaccuracies’ in his letter
– addressing Police’s “means of causing disruption, distress or irritation to an agency or its staff” ‘wild’ accusation, my genuine intent/interest behind each outstanding OIA request
– countering Police’s insinuation I was being unrealistically demanding, identifying the numerous opportunities they had to properly conclude my lodged crime report & address their performance issues
– “While 7 emails in isolation, as Police have presented to you, portray a misleading (‘vexatious’) story – putting them in context tells a realistic story. ‘Funny’ how Police did not provide you with my ‘Time to bury hacket :)’ email just 4 days prior to 1 of my supposed vexatious emails – ‘…We’re run 99 metres of an 100 metres race – PLEASE take last step. If Europol tell us they’re not interested in the case, at least I can ‘contently die’ knowing I tried my very best but it was not meant to be … So, let’s bury hacket & get case Done – let’s get it in the hands of the Only entity that were Ever going to do something about it – Europol’”
– 4 pages literally begging Allen to phone Richard Chambers & say sometime like “On 17 March, you received courier package from an Andrew Flanagan – it included 29 pages performance complaint. As he has been unsuccessfully trying since 11 October 2023 for it to be investigated, for love of everybody’s sanity, PLEASE email him asap”.

On 22 April, received an extraordinarily arrogant & dismissive 1 & bit page letter from Allen – “Most of your comment is merely recitation of your grievance about Police. I am already well aware of the background to your OIA requests so there is no need to revisit this”! For goodness sake:
– most of Allen’s 3 April letter showed his quite biased/poor understanding of my “grievance”!
– 4 of my responding documents were entirely new information, which he ignored in their entirety!!   
Allen’s final opinion was to refuse provision of the OIA responses on the basis my requests were “frivolous or vexatious”.    

As a result of these 2 letters & after Allen ignored my 2 ‘last chance’ “emotionlessly & logically manage my long outstanding OIA requests” emails, on 30 April, lodged a service complaint with his reporting Parliamentary Committee (more commentary below).

Over last 4.5 years; I have developed a very high tolerance for Government personnel’s apathy, arrogance, delusion, dishonesty, disrespect, gaslighting, rudeness, unprofessionalism etc. With just 2 letters, Allen ‘blew right through’ that very high tolerance! I spent 4 days trying to connect him to reality – with absolutely zero success.

On 3 June, emailed Allen “Very Simply phone Richard Chambers & say something like ‘On 17 March, you received a courier package from an Andrew Flanagan – it included a 29 pages performance complaint. As he has been unsuccessfully trying since 11 October 2023 for it to be investigated/reviewed, for the love of everybody’s sanity, PLEASE email him ASAP”. Despite sending 2 follow-up emails (through to 17 June), no action/response from Allen.

On 8 July, received a ‘professional’ letter (about long overdue Ministers’ OIA responses) from Allen. To his credit, he toned down the previously unnecessarily confrontational/hostile wording in his letters. Also, to Allen’s credit, he had tried to progress the resolution of my police performance complaint 🙂

However, IPCA had lied to Allen! “IPCA…told us…it has no intention of responding to your police performance complaint as it relates to substantially same matters as those already investigated by them”. Immediately emailed Allen my 2021 complaint IPCA had reviewed & my current complaint, pointing out they had zero overlap. “I VERY MUCH look forward to your Continued assistance to progress resolution of my police performance complaint”. 

On 9 July, received “Chief Ombudsman has refused to investigate your complaints. That decision is final” email. Final decision was based on a proven IPCA LIE!

Immediately responded “We have completed 99 of 100 metres that started in October 2023! The last metre ‘only’ requires ipca to accept my current police performance complaint is Not “substantially same matters” – which it VERY CLEARLY isN’t – &, as they Should have done when I First submitted it in January 2024, start an investigation. I VERY MUCH look further to your Continued assistance to progress resolution of my police performance complaint“. Despite 7 follow-up emails, no direct response from Allen.

A 25 August Office email about long overdue Ministers’ OIA responses mentioned “You have repeatedly emailed our office expecting the Ombudsman to assist with your ‘police performance complaint’, which he has told you very clearly he will not do”.

So, for 6 weeks – since 9 July, Allen:
– had not gone back to IPCA to ‘correct their record’!
– still ‘stood by’ his final opinion based on an IPCA LIE! 

Immediately responded “So, again, I VERY MUCH look forward to your Actual Timely assistance to Progress the Resolution of my police performance complaint. You Merely have to Correct ipca’s stance & get their commitment to investigate/review my complaint. If they Still ‘stand by’ their LIE, police/richard chambers is the next resolution avenue.

5k NZers Every year get their written police performance complaints investigated/reviewed by ipca &/or police. Since October 2023(!!), I have been Merely requesting the Same treatment as 5k other NZers – there is No way I am being unreasonable. ipca & Many police personnel are Literally paid – it’s their Entire job – to address Unacceptable police personnel performance! Actually Doing their job has been Appallingly Overdue since October 2023!!” Despite 1 follow-up email, no response.

On 4 September, received ‘ridiculous’ letter (about long overdue Ministers’ OIA responses):
– Continuing to totally ignore my 5 April letter to Allen literally begging him to make a 5 minutes phone call to the Police Commissioner to try to end this utter ‘madness’ – in 5 months, Allen had not even tried to make that 5 minutes phone call!
– Even though I proved 8 weeks prior it was a patent vexatious LIE, effectively still supporting “IPCA…told us…it has no intention of responding to your ‘police performance complaint’… as it relates to substantially same matters as those already investigated by them”!

Immediately responded “So, Yet Again, I VERY MUCH look forward to your ACTUAL Timely (NEXT week) assistance to Progress the Resolution of my police performance complaint. You Merely have to CORRECT ipca’s stance & get their commitment to investigate my complaint (as they Should have Way back in January 2024!). If they Still ‘stand by’ their LIE, police/richard chambers is the next resolution avenue. Again, I am MERELY wanting the Same treatment as 5k pa other NZers – I am Not being unreasonable”. Despite 10 follow-up emails (through to 11 November), no response.

Example of the absurdity of the Ombudsman office.

In January 2025, Police Commissioner internally released Executive level restructure consultation documents. Of course, Police declined my OIA request for a copy of those documents. Deeming me a “vexatious” person, Ombudsman office also refused my OIA request.

7 months later, sourced those documents via another means & sent Police Commissioner a 3.5 pages constructive letter expressing my concern his restructure was ‘heading in the wrong direction’, referencing Police culture research to support my claim & making a structure recommendation.

To prove was not a “vexatious” person, emailed Assistant Ombudsman Chloe Longdin-Prisk letter copy. Absurdily; Longdin-Prisk responsed on 4 September, as I had used the word “hate” in “Let’s finally bring an end to our hate-hate relationship,…”, the letter confirmed to her I was a vexatious person! Longdin-Prisk categorised the entire 3.5 pages letter by 1 word! After all I had experienced with Police over the last 4.75 years, Longdin-Prisk expected me to still treat them with the utmost respect! Absurd.

Letter download link is below – judge for yourself.

On 18 December, Allen again refused my Minister OIA complaint on a “vexatious &/or frivolous” basis. Immediately responded “Yet Again!, you embrace the attitude Andrew Flanagan & Andrew Flanagan Only is Not allowed to make a police performance complaint!

…

I Proved to you 23 weeks(!) ago “IPCA…told us…it has no intention of responding to your ‘police performance complaint’… as it relates to substantially the same matters as those already investigated by them (in 2021)” was a patent Vexatious LIE! 23 weeks later, withOut the decency/professionalism of Any response, You are Still Supporting ipca’s patent Vexatious LIE!!    

Despite police Totally Ignoring my Numerous complaint investigation requests since October 2023, you have the Gall to deem my complaint as vexatious &/or frivolous!

As per the accountability & transparency purposes of OIA, I have a right to confirm which police personnel Deliberately Mislead the police minister…    

Another reminder, as attached, I Literally Begged you in April to end this Saga with a Mere 5 minutes phone call to the police commissioner. You Refused that Effective & Efficient Solution, to instead Waste Many of your staff’s Hours with your alternative get Nowhere approach!

As you do Not have Parliamentary approval to ‘water down’ the enforcement of OIA, as you have Done since day 1 in the role!, honour its accountability & transparency purposes by pursuing my complaint”

Allen ‘constantly goes around & around in his arrogant circle’, ‘throwing out’ directives without explaining his position!

The Ombudsman Office constantly refer to my “grievance” with Police. I constantly respond along lines of “5k NZers Every year have their written police performance complaints investigated/reviewed by ipca &/or police. Since October 2023(!), I have been Merely requesting to receive the Same – nothing ‘special’ or unreasonable – treatment as 5k pa other NZers. Nobody in police has explained to me Why they will Not investigate my performance complaint – they have All Totally Ignored my NUMEROUS requests! Neither police minister or prime minister has explained to me Why they will not ‘encourage’ police to investigate my performance complaint – they have All (Totally) Ignored my Numerous requests! I do Not have a “grievance” with police – I Do have an Unaddressed police performance complaint. There is No way I am being unreasonable”.

The Ombudsman Office’s motto is “Fairness to All” & they ‘pride’ themselves on being the Government’s “last resort/when all else fails” resolution avenue for the Public. Especially under Allen’s tenure, these ‘positions’ are far from reality! As Allen is 90% ‘pro’/supportive of Government agencies – only 10% ‘for’ the Public – as in this case, it is overly hard to achieve a fair resolution via him! Again, as in this case, his office will continue to support Government agencies even when proven they have LIED!   

On 30 March 2026, in an email confirming their refusal to pursue my Police Minister OIA request of a generic document, the office stated “We are refusing to investigate this complaint as it is vexatious… The reasons for this assessment are the same as those set out in the Chief Ombudsman’s letter to you of 8 July 2025 as well as Assistant Ombudsman Chloe Longdin-Prisk’s letter to you of 4 September 2025”. (Both of those letters & office’s refusal to engage in discussion are mentioned above)

Immediately responded:

On 1 April (appropriate date), John Owen – Early Resolution Manager – confirmed his absurdity. I had lodged a complaint with the office the Police Minister had refused to provide 2 generic documents. In that complaint, I stated “Ignore document x request – as attached; it has been provided by Associate Police Minister, I read it & took no further action”. Despite this information, Owen absurdly responded “I am refusing to pursue document x- it’s a vexatious request”!

It is very obvious Owen has an immature personal vendetta against me – he is permanently stuck in “vexatious” response mode. Owen regularly talked nonsense to me. The worst of which was suggesting, for no benefit, I pay for integration between my email account & the office’s website! – la la land nonsense. 

I would LOVE to be positive about Ombudsman office. I would LOVE to be able to say “While it was a very frustrating ‘battle’ dealing with the Ombudsman office for the first 3 years, finally in June 2026 they actually assisted with my police complaint resolution😊 To the Ombudsman office, a Big ‘Thank You’ – you do ‘live by’ your “Fairness to All” motto😊 You have somewhat restored my faith Government agencies do actually serve the Public…”.

This just requires a little bit of effort from the Ombudsman office.

Service Performance Complaint

On 30 April 2025, lodged a service complaint with Allen’s (believed to be) reporting Officers of Parliament Committee. Committee Chairperson is Gerry Brownlee, Deputy Chairperson is Greg O’Connor and Members include Barbara Kuriger, Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, Jamie Arbuckle, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Ricardo Menéndez March, Suze Redmayne & Todd Stephenson. Despite 26 follow-up emails (through to 7 August), no response!

On 23 June, fed up with no response, I started “REALLY appreciate your assistance to (be pointed in the right direction to) get a response from at least 1 of these 9 mps” emailing Department of Internal Affairs and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet senior personnel (ccing the 9 Committee Members). Despite 7 follow-up emails (through to 4 August), no response!

On 7 August, thought Allen might report to Governance & Administration Committee. Committee Chairperson is Camilla Belich, Deputy Chairperson is Tim Costley and Members include Andy Foster, Celia Wade-Brown, Lemauga Lydia Sosene, Melissa Lee & Tom Rutherford. Despite 46 follow-up emails (through to 4 December), no response!

Despite another 58 follow-up emails (through to 4 December) to the Officers of Parliament Committee Members, no response!

Gerry, your “We will do our best to carefully assess each piece of correspondence for an appropriate response” is APPALLING/NOT true!

Despite another 22 follow-up emails (through to 4 December) to up to 25 Department of Internal Affairs and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet senior personnel (ccing the 9 Officers of Parliament Committee Members), no response!

On 22 November, fed up with no response from the Department of Internal Affairs and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet senior personnel, I started “Appreciate your assistance to FINALLY address this issue” emailing Alex Chadwick, Brian Roche, Heather Baggott & Thor Gudjonsson of Public Service Commission (ccing the 9 Officers of Parliament Committee Members). Despite 2 follow-up emails, no response.

Summary:
– Started process on 30 April 2025
– Officers of Parliament 9 Committee Members received total of 115 emails – NOT a single response from any of them!
– Governance & Administration 7 Committee Members received 47 emails – NOT a single response from any of them!
– Up to 25 Department of Internal Affairs and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet senior personnel received 30 emails – NOT a single response from any of them!
– 4 Public Service Commission senior personnel received 3 emails – No response from any of them.
– Nearly 9 months & 195 emails later, NO further ahead than as at 30 April 2025!!
– Government ‘efficiency’ at its ‘very finest’!

In addition:
– On 23 April 2025, “Please provide email contact details of the appropriate MPs etc to send a service complaint about john allen” emailed info@ombudsman.parliament.nz . Despite 35 follow-up emails (through to 16 February 2026), no response.
– On 25 August, “URGENT – Which Parliamentary Committee does john allen report to? Needing to identify Committee who assesses his performance on behalf of Government” emailed John Owen of the Ombudsman Office. Despite 17 follow-up emails (through to 16 February 2026), no response.

Somebody who is confident about their conduct would have provided the requested escalation details in April or May 2025. Somebody who knows their conduct was unacceptable behaves like John Allen – ignoring providing, for months, the requested details – which makes his conduct even more unacceptable!

If Allen had provided timely very simple assistance, the Matt Fitzgerald NONSENSE probably would not have occurred.

– On 12/13 December, Office of the Auditor-General/Camilla Belich confirmed Allen reported to the Officers of Parliament Committee
– On 16 December, Officers of Parliament Committee secretariat informed “In regard to the review of the performance of the Ombudsman, this is the responsibility of the Governance and Administration Committee as part of the annual review process”
– On 13 January 2026, Belich informed “Governance & Administration Committee is not Ombudsman’s employer, so disciplinary action is not responsibility of this committee”. Immediately responded “So, who is the Ombudsman’s employer for disciplinary action?”
– On 26 January, Belich responded “This is a complex question as I understand he doesn’t have an employer per se as he is an officer of Parliament”

On 28 January, as AI stated “Chief Ombudsman reports to the Speaker of the House of Representatives”, “IMPORTANT & URGENT” emailed Gerry Brownlee (as I first did on 30 April 2025!) After 2 follow-up emails, on 17 February 2026, Officers of Parliament Committee secretariat referred me back to Governance & Administration Committee!

Immediately replied “Camilla Belich – Chair of Governance & Administration Committee – has Confirmed they are Not empowered to make decisions about, or assessments of, the Chief Ombudsman’s performance. As AI also states ‘… accountability is primarily through…compliance with Public Audit Act’, should I direct my performance complaint to the Controller & Auditor-General?. Appreciate you asking allen who he reports to for the purposes of performance assessments – hopefully, he respects you more than he does the Public! (Title of position allen reports to will be in his position description)”.

On 24 February, received “…scrutiny of Chief Ombudsman is done by a series of bodies all with separate areas of focus & responsibility… Overarchingly, decisions on matters raised with Ombudsman are matter for Ombudsman. There is not one person to whom Ombudsman reports” from James Picker, senior manager in Office of Clerk for select committees.

Immediately replied “…So, for the purposes of an annual Overall performance review assessment & associated pay raise, there is Not one committee/person who collates the information from the relevant parties? Does the Ombudsman assess his Own overall performance & pay raise? …I am challenging his Appalling Arrogant conduct. (overviewed 5 examples)

As I can’t be the First such complainant, there must be a Committee/person whose responsibility is to manage Public complaints about the Chief Ombudsman. It is a pointLess exercise, as per https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/what-ombudsman-can-help/questions-concerns-and-complaints-about-ombudsman-work , those complaints are ‘assessed’ by himself &/or his senior staff!” 

On 4 March, after 1 follow-up email, received “I think best way I can help you will be to have a discussion with Governance & Administration Committee Chairperson… responsible for scrutinising performance of Ombudsman & his office… Obviously; I cannot guarantee the committee will agree to accept your correspondence or, if they do, they will raise your matters with the Ombudsman. However it is my advice this is the best parliamentary path for you to take. Would this solution be ok with you?” response from Picker. Immediately responded “Your solution is ok with me”.

On 30 March, noticed Jan Tinetti had become Governance & Administration Committee Chairperson.

Despite 4 follow-up emails (through to 20 April), no response.

On 18 May, after 10 follow-up emails, received “I understand Governance & Administration Committee is considering your emails & information at its meeting this week. The committee will be in contact with you directly after it has done this” response from Picker. It took 13.5 months of considerable effort, for the Government ‘review’ my Allen complaint.

On 21 May, received

Immediately responded

On 25 May, followed up

Despite 13 follow-up emails (through to 16 July), no response.

On 18 July, further to the “revealing comparative experience” (at the bottom of the page), emailed:

Despite 25 July follow-up email, no response.

(Lobby for Good is gathering confidential reports to understand the scale of the failure of the very agency designed to protect NZers – Office of the Ombudsman. Please share & sign this public signature count)

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