More than half (62%) of employees and leaders from New Zealand companies believe that standards of corporate integrity have stayed the same or worsened over the last 18 months, and that unethical behaviour was often tolerated when the people involved were senior managers, according to a recent EY survey.

This issue of the Transparency Times has a particular focus on transparency in government. It highlights areas where the Government, politicians and public servants can be doing a much better job.

Political financing through donations, anonymous or not, should not purchase influence. The principle of one-person one vote underpins democracy. We need to protect the integrity of this essential democratic process.

From the perspective of judging a government’s commitment to openness, they are conveying a signal that no government would choose: that there is no policy coherence between stated intent and reality.

In December eight civil society organisations gave a ‘summer reading’ briefing to Minister Hipkins in his capacity as Minister for Public Service. This followed our work over the past year, alongside other civil society organisations, on improving New Zealand’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

TINZ has been tracking compliance to the publication of procurement notices using the Government Electronic Tender System. Our latest analysis shows that there has been no improvement since 2019 and that during 2021 the situation deteriorated.

The New Zealand Open Government Partnership Independent Review Mechanism is seeking public comment on the draft report about the level of completion and the results of New Zealand’s third National Action Plan. The draft concludes that major progress has been made on one commitment but “The remaining eleven commitments made only marginal or no progress in opening up government practice.” The two-week public comment period ends at the close of business on 24 February 2022.

As businesses grapple with ethics in an uncertain world, a new ‘field guide’ to ethical leadership, with practical decision-making tools for leaders and teams is being released, featuring well-known New Zealanders and leading global businesses.

Poorly regulated political finance regimes can undermine the integrity of processes and institutions of political participation and representation, resulting in corruption and a loss of public trust in politics.

New Zealand remains on top of the annual Corruptions Perception Index. Here are details from our perspective.

New Zealand is once again ranked least corrupt in the world by Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index. This year New Zealand’s score of 88 out of 100 is unchanged resulting in it being first equal with Denmark and Finland.

New Zealand’s high CPI score is good for business. Stable, trusted and open democracies give a sense of confidence to international investors looking for good returns on their investments and the comfort of knowing their investment isn’t at risk from corrupt practices.