New Zealand’s score has declined again, from 85 to 83 in the just released 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), resulting in a further slip in our global ranking, now to fourth, with Singapore moving into third place. This also bumps New Zealand off the top rank in the Asia Pacific region.

New Zealand’s score has declined again, from 85 to 83 in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This is an analysis about why we are slipping and how we can go about reversing the slide.

New Zealand’s score has declined again, from 85 to 83 in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This has resulted in a further slip in our global ranking to fourth, with Singapore moving into third place. This also bumps New Zealand off the top rank in the Asia Pacific region.

New Zealand must strengthen foreign bribery detection and its corporate liability framework for foreign bribery.

In December 2024, a group of leading human rights advocates released an important report or combating trafficking which introduces the Combating Trafficking in Person and Modern Forms of Slavery Bill (Modern Slavery Bill).

Greater transparency of those who ultimately control legal entities and arrangements like trusts and companies reduces organized crime and corruption, drug offending and money laundering. It also supports the integrity of a nation’s financial system.

Fiji has improved its score in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index compared to the last two years, regaining its 2021 score of 55/100. Its rank is 50 out of 180 countries, so it sits in the top 30% of countries.

At the end of November, TINZ Board Director, Debbie Gee, and TI-IPP Coordinator, Rochelle Stewart-Allen, travelled to Bangkok to connect with other Indo-Pacific TI Chapters. The focus was launching Phase II of the Indo-Pacific STRONGG Project, a crucial initiative aimed at strengthening anti-corruption efforts across the region.

In December Transparency International, our parent organization, released a report setting out standards for integrity in political finance.

The OECD that shows a much improved bribery prevention framework in New Zealand since 2013, but that much more work is needed including specific improvements in detecting and preventing bribery.

In August 2024 TINZ released a significant research report as part of our National Integrity System Assessment work programme. A key recommendation is the need for a zeitgeist shift in thinking about anti-corruption in New Zealand towards positive prevention including a Government funded agency responsible for anti-corruption work and strategy.

Monday 9 December 2024 was International Anti-Corruption Day. New Zealand cannot sit on its laurels with evidence of an upsurge in financial scams, tax fraud and cases of individual corrupt businesses and public servants supporting fraudulent practices or facilitating money laundering here.