The recently revised rules for central government agencies undertaking procurement are a positive step in increasing transparency of government procurement.

TINZ is generally very supportive of the proposed changes. Iffollowed these changes will increase transparency and accountability of the spending of the public purse. We recommend that the NZ Government Procurement Rules should also be reviewed against international standards such as the Open Contracting Partnership Global Principles1 and the OECD Principles for Integrity in Public Procurement.

The Auditor-General has recently used his position to express our shared concerns about the dangers to constitutional integrity when politicians give themselves the power to make direct public funding decisions or to enable non-transparent access to natural assets.

Following the huge response from a broad range of organisations and individuals on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, the Environment Select Committee appears to be listening to concerns about the overriding of democratic and judicial processes and public participation that were implicit in the first draft.

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. 

Report Brief summarizing our 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.