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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.