Transparency International NZ is working with other Pacific chapters on projects as part of the Transparency International Indo Pacific Programme (TI-IPP).This broad programme is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia.
Budget Awareness workshop in Fiji
Derek Gill, TINZ Member with Delegated Authority is off to Fiji this month to run a National Budget Awareness session with staff and volunteers of partner chapters in Fiji and Vanuatu.
Derek is the Open Budget Reviewer for New Zealand. His public sector career includes senior leadership roles in Child, Youth and Family and State Services Commission and as a diplomat and a long-standing Treasury employee with a secondment to the OECD.
He will run a workshop to assist the attendees to scrutinise a national budget to improve their analytical ability and confidence to query and comment on expenditure and revenue and on the budget process. He will also walk them through the budget cycle.
Fiji’s Open Budget to date
The last Open Budget Survey report showed that Fiji’s Ministry of Economy has established pre-budget deliberations but with limited public involvement in this deliberation process and on the audit report. It found that the legislature and supreme audit institution in Fiji, together, provide weak oversight during the budget process. And whilst Fiji’s budget transparency has improved over the last 20 years, more timely publication of the pre-budget statement and mid-year and year-end reports should be prioritised.
Responding in an open and accountable manner is an important way for governments to show that they care about the lives of their citizens. Fiscal openness also reduces the risks of corruption and can lead to more equitable and effective outcomes.
Open Budget Survey Results - some Comparisons
Money Laundering and Corruption: Country Summaries
In 2021 we published research on the nexus between money laundering and corruption across the Pacific. The report Corruption and Money Laundering across the Pacific included a close analysis of seven selected Pacific countries. We are currently creating individual country summaries.
The original research provided a good base but we have had feedback that the language used could have been more accessible. (The language is dense, with too many acronyms and long sentences.) This also offers an opportunity to get shorter influencing documents out to the relevant stakeholders. We expect these summaries to be ready by late July.
