Z Energy confirmed to RNZ it had provided a document to Government in 2024 and Fonterra confirmed it had done the same with a hard copy.<\/p>\n
Smith explained the defendants in his case had been ordered to release documents relating to their lobbying efforts by the end of March 2026, but the briefing note was only released this month, through the discovery process in the High Court.<\/p>\n
The documents also showed the information was not disclosed by the Prime Minister\u2019s office, when requested as part of a separate Official Information Act request by an environmental group.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister told RNZ there was no record of the briefing note on file and stakeholders on all sides of issues requested to meet with staff, but Cabinet \u201cmakes its own decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said Cabinet made a decision on this issue to ensure businesses had legal clarity and certainty.<\/p>\n
This month, the Government announced it would amend climate laws to prevent companies from being sued over damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said it would apply to current and future cases, stopping a landmark case against Fonterra and five other major emitters in its tracks.<\/p>\n
Goldsmith said the law change would \u201cremove the possible development of a new regime that contradicts the framework Parliament has already enacted to respond to climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n
Documents released by the High Court revealed that in mid-2024, a member of Fonterra\u2019s government affairs team printed out a \u201cbriefing note\u201d and provided it to a staff member of the Prime Minister\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
As well, in mid-2024, a member of Z Energy\u2019s government affairs team printed a copy of the same or similar document, and also provided it by hand to a staff member of the Prime Minister\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The briefing note explained the \u201crationale for proceeding with the introduction of legislation to prevent private litigation seeking to impose liability for climate change, including current litigation brought by Mr Michael John Smith against Fonterra, Genesis, Z Energy, New Zealand Steel, Dairy Holdings and BT Mining\u201d.<\/p>\n
The briefing note, \u201cin summary\u201d, explained why legislative intervention \u201cis necessary and appropriate\u201d, and it proposed a two-sentence legislative amendment to the Climate Change Response Act 2002 that would \u201cresolve the uncertainty and risks posed by private law claims like Mr Smith\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n
The information was released after Goldsmith\u2019s announcement of the Government\u2019s intentions on May 12.<\/p>\n
Smith explained the defendants in his case had been ordered to release documents relating to their lobbying efforts by the end of March 2026, but he only learned of the briefing note after they were disclosed to him by Fonterra and Z Energy, following Goldsmith\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese documents were supposed to have been discovered by the defendants, but it seems they were kept from me while decisions were being made behind closed doors,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n
Z Energy told RNZ it stood by the document, which summarised its views on the implications of the case. It said it was appropriate to engage with Government on industry issues that had \u201ceconomic and environmental issues of national significance\u201d.<\/p>\n
It supported the government\u2019s decision to progress legislation \u201creinforcing the Climate Change Response Act as the primary mechanism for addressing climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n
Fonterra told RNZ it routinely shared information with stakeholders in various forms, including hard copy, \u201cas was the case in this instance\u201d.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) said it had sought information in March 2025 about meetings, discussions or conversations regarding the Smith case, and any proposed legislative or regulatory response.<\/p>\n
Dr Matt Hall, the group\u2019s research and legal director, said it received \u201conly limited material\u201d in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see this document emerge later in such an important case is deeply troubling,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
ELI said it appeared the Prime Minister\u2019s office withheld a document that now showed direct lobbying of PMO staff by the defendants in the Smith case. The document only came to light due to \u201cdiscovery obligations\u201d on the various corporate defendants, the group said.<\/p>\n
Smith said it increasingly looked like a \u201ccover-up of secret lobbying\u201d between the government and some of the country\u2019s most powerful corporate interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just about climate change anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is about whether billion-dollar corporations can use their political access to shut down legal challenges they do not want to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
ELI has called for an Ombudsman inquiry and a Solicitor-General review, due to the document not being disclosed as part of its official information request.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Z Energy confirmed to RNZ it had provided a document to Government in 2024 and Fonterra confirmed it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12974,2562,4442,40627,37601,8307,40626,8563,111,43,139,69,6270,1523,27882,13911],"class_list":["post-442870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-change","tag-claims","tag-climate","tag-hanly","tag-inquiry","tag-law","tag-lillian","tag-lobbying","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-office","tag-over","tag-pms","tag-sought"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}