67960 (2024). Tamatha Paul to the Minister for Courts

67960 (2024). Tamatha Paul to the Minister for Courts: What events or meetings, if any, did the Minister decline to attend during the period 30th September 2024 to 14 October 2024 inclusive, including location, event description, and attendees?

Hon Nicole McKee: As a Minister of the Crown, I receive numerous invitations to attend events and meetings related to my portfolio responsibilities. Given the high volume of requests, it is not possible to attend every event or meeting. My office prioritises recording the meetings and events I attend, but does not maintain a central register of those I decline. To answer the Member’s question, my staff and I would need to manually review electronic communications across all platforms to identify requests received and whether they were declined. This would be an onerous, time-consuming process that would divert my staff from their essential duties supporting the governance of New Zealand. Therefore, under Speaker's Ruling 199/6, I do not believe it would be in the public interest to direct my staff to undertake this task.