NZ falls in international corruption rankings, OIA and environment blamed

New Zealand has fallen down the league table of the least corrupt nations, with access to official information and discussion about environmental policy both issues according to the chairwoman of Transparency International New Zealand.

With a score of 88 out of 100 for 2015, New Zealand dropped to the fourth least corrupt nation globally, behind Denmark, Finland and Sweden in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Having topped the index for two consecutive years with the least corrupt public sector, New Zealand was toppled last year by Denmark. Australia's score fell from 80 to 79, and its ranking dropped to 13 from 11 in 2014.

Chairwoman Suzanne Snively said there were steps that could be taken immediately to re-establish New Zealand's exemplary reputation for a trusted public sector.

Ms Snively told BusinessDesk that there was a current issue with access to official information, where New Zealand has historically been strong.

"We were leading in terms of the Ombudsman Act years ago, but we haven't resourced it," she said. "We don't prioritise the importance of having access to information in the way that has been done in the past."

The Official Information Act has come under scrutiny recently with media organisations reporting government departments are increasingly invoicing for requests made for information. In outgoing Ombudsman Beverley Wakem's report on practices adopted by government agencies in dealing with OIA requests, she said there was no reason to exclude media from being charged for information requests.

In her report, Dame Beverley also said it was clear the office of the Ombudsman had struggled to keep up with complaints made, and she had advised Parliament the office had failed to meet all of its timeliness performance targets in the 2014/15 reporting year.

Discussion of the balance between environmental and economic importance was another issue, Ms Snively said.

"We've been slow to address water quality issues," she said. "We've been behind when it comes to talking about the compromises that are necessary when talking about your future economy. The idea behind taking this stuff seriously is not that we want to become perfect overnight but we need to be having discussions and debates about the trade-offs."

The Corruption Perceptions Index 2015 ranks 168 countries on a scale of zero to 100. Somalia and North Korea are bottom of the list, both scoring just eight out of 100.

Ms Snively said the fall in score and rank was a wake-up call for the government and public sector, with New Zealand needing to make corruption prevention routine and comprehensive to reclaim the No 1 spot.

"A clean reputation makes us attractive to do business with and secures qualified migrants and confident tourists," she said. "We're subject to the winds of global markets, and a strong reputation is a very important asset, but you need to work at it."

(BusinessDesk)