In June 2021 the top public sector auditors from across the Pacific met together for the annual Congress of the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI). This year’s congress was held online, enabling streamed attendance from Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) across the Pacific and around the world.

Transparency International New Zealand runs a series of Leaders Integrity Forums on issues relating to transparency, accountability, corruption-prevention and integrity for public sector leaders. Two recent cracking good forums for public sector leaders were held recently.

TINZ offered two submissions in August. We entered a submission to the Ministry of Justice regarding proposals against incitement of hatred and discrimination and one on the Māori electoral option.

Giving effect to the Public Service principles of open government and stewardship: An introduction to long-term insights briefings.

The International Budget Partnership conducted special research in 120 countries that shows government fiscal policy responses to the COVID crisis are undermining accountability and transparency. In New Zealand some good practices fell by the wayside.

TINZ has submitted on the Incorporated Societies Bill currently being considered by the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. Good governance and integrity is as important in civil society organisations as it is in public and business sector.

Maintaining integrity when the only certainty is uncertainty was the theme of the February 2021 Public Sector Leaders Integrity Forum.

As the Government rolls up its sleeves for its 2021 workload, a number of initiatives are underway that demonstrate anti-corruption is an important agenda item. Transparency International New Zealand is keeping watch on these ongoing efforts.

The project for tracking the commitments made during the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit is being concluded with a final report "From Practice to Impact" published in December 2020.

Never in New Zealand’s history has it been more important to channel government spending inwardly to ensure it is delivering sustainable outcomes for New Zealanders. A Particularly salient section of the latest Government Procurement Rules is Rule 16 ‘Broader outcomes.’

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is undertaking a public consultation to understand the potential benefits, opportunities, and other impacts of extending the Government Procurement Rules to more government entities in the New Zealand public sector.

The new proposed Parliamentary Code of Conduct addresses important issues of inappropriate sexual conduct and bullying. The code is part of proposals to make Parliament a safer working environment, from one where unacceptable conduct had become "normalised”.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) was found to have "manifestly inadequate" administration and institutional accountability systems for gathering, recording, preserving, investigating and providing information. This directly impacted on the quality of information provided by NZDF to successive Ministers of Defence, and through them to Parliament.

June Brain Food Webinar recap The aspirational outcome for this webinar is that we can build a team to bring about changes to the law, policies and practice around beneficial ownership, to better protect New Zealand from potentially massive impacts of international grand corruption.

The level of compliance of government agencies with the mandatory procurement rules needs significant improvement. All government agencies need to improve the quality of the information that they monitor and publish about contract award notices.

For the effectiveness of the Protective Disclosures Bill as it currently stands before Parliament, the proof will be in the pudding. It will be important to have more rigorous monitoring of whistleblowing events and outcomes to determine if the new legislation actually encourages more people to speak up.

Transparency International UK chapter created the Anti-corruption Pledge Tracker in 2017 and has maintained it since. This tool visualises and documents progress made since the conclusion of the summit. The latest update released in May 2020 reflects New Zealand's continued progress.

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.

Citizens have looked to the government for timely and reliable information to protect themselves, their families and their communities particularly in this time of crisis. The 2019 Open Budget Survey provides insight, strengths, weaknesses and practical areas of improvement in New Zealand's budget process.  

Along with many other civil society organisations Transparency International New Zealand has added its name to an international declaration on COVID-19 and its risks to open government.

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.

TINZ’s February 2020 submission on the Secondary Legislation Bill emphasised that getting the legislation to be more consistent is one thing. But an equally high priority ought to ensure people can access the secondary legislation.

In November Transparency International UK launched the Anti-Corruption Pledge Tracker that globally monitors the progress of the commitments made by governments at the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit in London.