Lisa Marriott and Max Rashbrooke from the School of Government, VUW are undertaking research about how powerful groups shift democratic decision-making away from public good. They want to hear about experiences from people with an inside perspective.

Aotearoa New Zealand's historically low levels of corruption have encouraged complacency and a reactive approach to policy making at top levels of politics and the public service.This is the finding presented in our just released research report: An assessment of the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions in New Zealand in deterring, detecting and exposing corruption. This research forms part of our National Integrity System Assessment work programme. 

In a positive step for democracy the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has been affirmed with the six political parties likely to have MPs elected to Parliament giving a strong thumbs up for New Zealand’s continuing membership.

The distraction around policy costing rather than focusing on the merits of the policies themselves highlights the need for a Parliamentary Budget Office

New Zealanders value a government that is open, and accountable. There are practical ways to see these qualities translated into concrete policies and actions.

Last month TINZ published “Promises to Policy to Action”, our urgent call for invigorating New Zealand’s healthy democracy and sent an email to party presidents and secretaries. So far, only the TOP party has responded. Stopping the flow of illicit money is one of the areas where concrete action is called for.