Open Government Partnership finds improved online visibility of Parliament’s proceedings is strengthening open government in NZ

Press Release by Keitha Booth, Open Government Partnership’s Independent Review Mechanism Researcher, 15 March 2022

Improved online visibility of NZ Parliament’s proceedings, particularly since the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020, is the major result highlighted in the Open Government Partnership’s Independent Review Mechanism review of NZ’s open government work since 2018.

The New Zealand Transitional Results Report noted “impressive (almost literally) overnight efforts” to make sure select committees could be televised and “seismic” work to televise Parliament’s Epidemic Response Committee in 2020 and the various televised Parliamentary oversight committees subsequently in August/September 2021.

The report identifies continued public concern about the consistency of Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) compliance by government agencies, new legislation including secrecy clauses that override the OIA, and uncertainty that the OIA will be reviewed in this government’s term (more detail on pages 9-11 of the report).

Foundational work on algorithms, community engagement guidance and improving the availability of secondary legislation and Cabinet papers has been completed but so far has brought about marginal or no change in government practice.

Work continues on government’s data stewardship practice, assessing government service design and potentially transformational work creating an authoritative dataset of government organisations as open data. The Youth Parliament, the School Leavers’ Toolkit and Archives NZ’s Monitoring Framework were completed or substantially completed.

Keitha Booth, NZ’s OGP Independent Researcher, thanks the many civil society groups and technical experts who contributed to the report, saying “their collaborative work in 2021/2022 with government’s open government advisory group, government officials, and the Minister for the Public Service to co-create New Zealand’s 4th National Action Plan is a very positive step for deepening open government in NZ in 2022”.

Background

Since its founding in 2011, the Open Government Partnershiphas grown to 78 countries and 76 local jurisdictions that work alongside thousands of civil society organisations. Every two years, each member submits an action plan co-created with civil society that outlines concrete commitments to enhance transparency, accountability and public participation in government. NZ joined the OGP in 2013. This report reviews implementation of NZ’s 3rd National Action Plan 2018-2021.

Keitha Booth

Independent Review Mechanism Researcher, Open Government Partnership

Senior Associate, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington

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