Online harm has real world consequences. It’s time for New Zealand to take a closer look at the role of big tech companies in amplifying and profiting from this harm, and to ensure our laws are fit for purpose.

A comprehensive review into New Zealand's national security system released in late May criticises intelligence and security agencies for lack of transparency and poor oversight mechanisms.

Can intelligence (the people and agencies) become the cornerstone on which the broader regression in public trust could be reversed? Can intelligence (the products) become a byword for trusted reliability?

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.

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.

Work on the fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan (NAP) is well underway for completion late this year. Stakeholders not already engaged in the process will have a narrow window of time to comment on the draft.

Social media platforms fail to act on 89% of anti-Muslim and Islamaphobia hate content. Social media simillarly fail on climate change and COVID-19 misinformation, and on antisemitism, racist, and misogynistic content. Join the Global Summit to Address Online Harms and Misinformation conversation with legislators, academics, regulators and activists on building a better, safer and fairer Internet.

Given the dominance of COVID-19 in government activity over the last two years, it is clear that procurement for covid response and recovery has been conducted almost entirely outside of public scrutiny.

The public’s trust in Intelligence is precarious. Often collection of information is criticised for potential invasion of privacy but Intelligence done well supports good policy development and successful operational activity. Where this occurs, the role of intelligence goes unnoticed. Competence of intelligence is also indicated in the absence of failure.

The often toxic environment of social media and fake news needs to be countered by a trusted media. Perceptions of government influence on those outlets should not be part of the conversation.

Given the dominance of COVID-19 in government activity over the last two years, it is clear that procurement for covid response and recovery has been conducted almost entirely outside of public scrutiny.

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.

The New Zealand Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, is responsible for resolving complaints about decisions on OIA requests. He also monitors the general OIA compliance and good practice of public agencies, and provides guidance and training.

The work from several joint workshops was presented to Hon Chris Hipkins, the Minister for the Public Service on 28 October with more than 30 attendees from government agencies and Civil Society Organisations. Several of the organizations involved have compiled their points from the discussion and produced the Civil Society OGP Briefing titled "Open Government Partnership: Summer Reading from Civil Society".

The work from several open government joint workshops was presented to Hon Chris Hipkins, the Minister for the Public Service on 28 October with more than 30 attendees from government agencies and CSOs.

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission (PSC) recently reached out to the open government community looking for input about the topics for its first Long-term Insights Briefing and informing them that the extension to developing the next national action plan has been extended to mid-2022.

Positive progress is being made in the development of the fourth National Action Plan for open government. We hope that the government continues to listen to, further engage and co-create with civil society.

In our extensive submission we identify the opportunity for NAP4 to demonstrate commitment to “A culture of open government” – one of the five principles listed in the Public Service Act 2020. We also advocate for more effective engagement with civil society organisations, leading to co-created commitments that are drafted with the government, not by the government.

New Zealanders are worried about the growing spread of misinformation and the harm it is causing our communities, according to new Classification Office research, The Edge of the Infodemic: Challenging Misinformation in Aotearoa.

As a society, we need to be more proactive in defending ourselves against cybercrime. The recent attack on the US pipeline may be a part of prompting more Governmental action, in NZ and globally. Let’s hope so.

17 May kicks off Open Government Week with sessions worldwide and many online. A video featuring TINZ’s works on algorithm transparency will be shown at the plenary session.

A group of Ten civil society organisations with an interest in open government sent a letter to the Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for the Public Service, seeking a meeting to discuss extending the period for co-creation of Open Government Partnership National Actio Plan, thereby enabling funding for the plan to be included in Budget 2022.

Public comments are currently being accepted for development of New Zealand’s 4th OGP NAP. In addition to submitting comments, TINZ is working with nine other civil society groups to promote extending the consultation period and building a budget around a more ambitious action plan.

Online public engagement has begun on New Zealand’s fourth Open Government National Action Plan, and you can get involved! Visit the online Delib platform was launched

Algorithms are the foundation of most interactions between individuals and institutions, yet they are opaque. Transparency of algorithms is a 21st century anti-corruption issue.

Transparency International New Zealand has three areas of major concern about New Zealand government procurement: poor quality of data on the Government Electronic Tendering System (GETS),  poor and incomplete publication of emergency procurements undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic, and lack of secondary procurement data.

It is disappointing that the leadership of the New Zealand Open Government Partnership (OGP) programme has not published any information on the programme for the last six months.

Extended Open Government Partnership (OGP) timeline gives government agencies an extra year to fully tackle the social, economic, political, or environmental problems they initially identified in the OGP action plan and also take COVID-19 into account.

The Archive and Record Association of New Zealand is determined to prove a positive way forward for all parties to reinvigorate the archive and records network. This is essential for documenting the activities and philosophies of New Zealand past, present and future.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) has continued to work on the Access to Secondary Legislation project. They now report on this in their latest technical update.

New Zealand needs to address long-standing open government engagement and content issues in its next Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. The government and the public need to work together to resolve these issues so that more New Zealanders participate in New Zealand’s democracy.

While the publication of the NZ procurement data by MBIE is to be applauded, the quality and completeness of the data available continues to fall well short of genuine transparency. There is plenty of room for improvement.

Times of crisis bring out the very best of nearly everyone. Unfortunately it also brings out the few who look at this as a time of opportunity. From small scale scams on individuals to misuse of billions earmarked for aid, this is a time of great risk. There are lots of warnings, let's heed them.

There is an urgent need to improve inclusivity and integration of our recent arrivals by overcoming intransigence and lack of transparency in the public service. By this means, they will flourish and successfully contribute to our society and overall wellbeing.

If last week's Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan workshop is any indication, New Zealand's next plan will be the same as the last three, full of activities that are either ‘business as usual’ that should have occurred anyway, or  ‘side projects’ delivered on a wing-and-a-prayer.

Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ) aims to ensure the current biennial engagement of the public in OGP will develop into more continuous involvement of civil society under a wider Open Government strategy.

Colombia’s government has, throughout the last decade, passed legislation, implemented technology and created a set of institutions that let citizens know what the government is up to. The publication of open data has given its citizens a better understanding of government initiatives that used to be known only by headlines.

As we enter the community consultation phase to draft a new Open Government Partnership National Action Plan (2020-2022) for New Zealand, we know the current methods of engagement aren’t working and don’t lead to actions that truly reflect the aspirations of civil society.  Is it time to consider a different approach?

New Zealand is developing it's fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Here is an update about planned events and a suggestion for areas where transformative initiatives are called for.

In early February, Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ) offered a submission supporting the work of Stats NZ to create an Algorithm Charter. TINZ strongly supports the primary purpose of the charter – to put the right safeguards in place so that data ethics are embedded in the work, and so that people and communities being served by these tools are always front of mind. However, TINZ would like to see the Charter go further...

The use of algorithms has generated problems of persistent error, bias, concealment, negative extension of use and choice restriction. The Charter is an opportunity for a commitment by public sector agencies to more consistently use transparency as an accountability tool to detect, reduce and mitigate these problems.