DoC response to OIA by New Zealand Taxpayers' Union 18 June 2014

5/23/2018 DoC response to OIA by New Zealand Taxpayers' Union 18 June 2014

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OIA-14-E-111

18June 2014

Mr Jordan WilliamsExecutive DirectorNew Zealand Taxpayers Union IncorporatedPO Box 10518The Terrace 6143Wellington

Dear Jordan

OFFICI L INFORM TION REQUEST USTR LI N CONTROLLEDThank you for your letter of 24th May 2014 asking for additional informatio

clarification on various matters raised in my previous letter to you.

I apologise for not acknowledging your letter of the 20th May; it was an oveoverlap in that letter and your letter of the 24th. Both letters have been trerequests for official information.

1.0 Questions asked in section two of your letter of 24th May.

The department has taken advantage of the opportunity to be invol(Australian) fuel reduction burn program to broaden the experiencin fire fighting. The acquisition of controlled burning qualificationsissuing permits to farmers for land clearing purposes, was incidentof developing leadership qualities of our crew leaders in high stressstaff to experience a variety of fire behaviour in a controlled setting


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To specifically answer the questions you have asked;

(a)As stated above the departments staff are required to write perwishing to utilise fire as a method of land clearance within the margin of Public Conservation land. These are primarily smallcover on private property and do not provide the opportunity tto the required levels.

(b)With the reduction in the use of fire as a land clearance methodwith these skills is declining and involvement in the Australianprogram is seen as the most effective way of maintaining the skappropriate level.

(c) As described above the Departments staff do write permits forproperty and will assist if the property owner is agreeable. Theused to compliment the Australian experience, but do not provexpert levels of instruction and supervision that is available in

(d)Training to the same level is not available in New Zealand.(e) No, because it is not readily available in New Zealand.

The training available through the fuel reduction burn program is apoint of view that the department is often requested to provide fire deployments to Australia, Canada and the United States of Americain Australia enables the staff to operate safely and effectively in thebe, extreme fire environments.

2.0 Section Three of your letter of the 24th May Additional Requests.(a) The documents mentioned in my previous letter are attached.(b) I have enclosed the expense summaries for 2012 and 2014 whic

in costs for each year. For the 2014 year you should add $52,800allowances cost calculated at the rate of $200 per person (22 stdays of the training exercise. In addition, the amounts to be recAustralian Agencies (they subsidise our involvement) is not sh

the 2012 year and estimated at $52,800 for the 2012 year.(c) The cost of staff time is shown on the attached expense summa

and $103,828 for 2014). Salaries are calculated on the basis of inwhich will vary across the staff involved and the provision of a of overtime and other allowances in the collective employmentamounts to $200 per day worked


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Documents

DoC response to OIA by New Zealand Taxpayers' Union 18 June 2014