NZ International Fraud Film Festival will be held on March 29 and March 30 at Q Theatre in Auckland. This is a two-day festival of documentaries about fraud and its prevention, followed by live discussions to inspire awareness and debate around these issues.

New Zealand is ranked second equal with Finland in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark is now clearly at the top of the ranking. New Zealand’s score dropped one point to 87 while Denmark improved by 2 points scoring 90.

TINZ is generally supportive of the legislation. If it works as the Bill intends it should support the Minister of Defence’s responsibility to have oversight of the Defence forces with a level of independent scrutiny and a range of investigative powers. Our concerns with the wording lie in the transparency of the process and lack of public reporting. We think that this can be provided without compromising national security concerns. That is the main focus of our brief comments.

Pacific Island countries face particular corruption risks given their relatively small populations, dependence on natural resources, vulnerability to natural disasters and recent transition to democracy. However, evidence about levels and patterns of corruption is still limited.

TINZ's submission response covers the elements of the Bill that are particularly relevant to our areas of focus – anti corruption, good governance and transparency for accountability.

Today - 9 December 2022 - is International Anti-Corruption Day occurring alongside the International Anti-Corruption Conference.

The just released report Money for Something, describes the often murky world of donations to political parties – and details how it could be cleaned up.

Civil society groups have endeavoured, with mostly volunteer resources, to drive real ambition in New Zealand’s fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Sadly most of our expertise and energy has been expended without purpose.

TINZ provided a submission and met with the Electoral Review panel in late October. Our baseline position draws on core reasons for demanding electoral integrity.

The 2022 Transparency International Annual General Meeting and event was held on 29 November in the Grand Hall, Parliament House. The Annual Report was presented and business of the organisation conducted followed by an interesting panel discussion and lively networking event.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) offers an innovative model for co-development by civil society and government to improve public transparency and accountability. We are disappointed that this opportunity has not been seized in the three years that the NAP4 has been in development.

The recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that beneficial ownership registries may infringe on fundamental individual rights is a setback to beneficial ownership reporting advocates.