I recently did an official information act request to Judith Collins seeking her source of information for being consistently quoted as stating that New Zealand is the least corrupt .
In the response she states that this is the perception index yet far too often she makes the statement as though it is fact and not a mere illusion One such instance is in her address to parliament where she erroneously interprets this to mean ” Corruption free ”
“New Zealand’s reputation for being corruption-free is one of its biggest assets internationally. People who do business and invest in New Zealand know they can trust our laws and our Government to protect their rights and freedoms. New Zealand’s ranking by Forbes as the best country for doing business is in part due to the high trust in our public sector. Well done, New Zealand.”
If the ‘corruption free ” statement was made by a company it would be held accountable under the fair trading act.
National are slapping themselves on the back for the low levels of corruption by actively concealing corruption and preventing people from speaking about it as is evident in this question by MP Grant Robertson 29 May 2014:
I would ask why it is that I am unable to ask a question that is legitimately to the Minister of Justice about the question of corruption and bribery—and I quoted from a Ministry of Justice fact sheet, which describes that as abuse of one’s position of power—and I am not allowed to ask questions about Ministers who bullied somebody—
Ross Robertson will retire for Government this year without seeing his bill Members of Parliament (Code of Ethical Conduct) Bill [PDF 148k] being passed.
Current chair of GOPAC (Global organisation of parliamentarians agaisnt corruption ) is Andrew Little , he has a hard job a head of him when our minister of justice states that we are corruption free and also states ( at 1.05 )that in New Zealand there is no court of justice . To me this is a contradiction of terms .
My petition for a commission agaisnt corruption was presented this week . I have little doubt that it will be viewed seriously for as long as we do not label or define corruption we wont have any .
I have still to hear form John Key with regards to my request to him, I suspect that this has been filed in his drawer until one day he needs to pull it out in a tit for tat trade off against an opposition minister .
National appears to thrive on corruption and to act in the name of corruption would be to clip their own wings .
I have come to the conclusion that a government which will not let you question corruption must be corrupt . Time for a change me thinks.
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