NZ tops global list as least corrupt country

come on people. the ETS is the most corrupt political hiest know to modern man. smith and co see new zealand leading this corruption.

the results are as corrupt as new zealand's political system is

Who exactly is Transparency International?
What do we know about their modus operandi.
Who funds the organisation?
How are its members chosen/selected?

What credibility does it have!!

NBR could perhaps delve into the organisdations background, some inverstigative journalisim perhaps.
Granted this takes time and effort; much easier to just print their diatribe.

How on earth would they know?

Who told them what?

Shouldn't we have grown past the naive stage of swallowing these "authoritative" reports.

Who guards the guards...?

Must have excluded politiians in the survey

A joke. NO ONE is doing corruption risk auditing to make sure the systems are in place to prevent corruption from happening.

NZ does not have an independent Commission Against Corruption.

Many calls have been made since the last election for NZ to establish this. But the pleas continue to fall on the deaf ears of Prime Minister Key and his cronies charged with governing our country.

NZ the least corrupt country in the world?

Give me a break.

How ON EARTH did NZ achieve that status, when:

1)There is no 'Code of Conduct' for NZ MPs.

2)NZ Ministers can hold shares.
(Australian Federal Government Ministers cannot.)

3)There is no 'Register of Lobbyists', so that there is transparency regarding who is lobbying Ministers, and on whose behalf.

4) There is no 'quarantine period', particularly for Ministers, when leaving public office for the private sector.

5) In local government, the public are NOT being told where exactly our public monies are being spent on private sector suppliers of 'goods, services and people'.
We are NOT being given the 'devilish detail' of the name of the contractor; the value, term and scope of the contract.
If NZ was truly 'transparent', this information would be published in Council Annual Reports so it was available for public scrutiny.

5)In local government, there is no statutoty requirement for elected representatives or their spouses to declare their 'interests' in a publicly-available 'Register of Interests'.

HOW CAN CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS BE CHECKED IF THEY ARE NOT DECLARED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

6) NZ has no equivalent 'INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION', ie: we have no statutory third party 'Public Watchdog' which is tasked with PREVENTING corruption and corrupt practices.

The Police, SFO, Office of the Auditor-General, all deal with complaints AFTER the event.
(If they bother to act after they have been provided with facts and evidence.)

7)NZ has very little legislation which enforces transparency in public office, but has been pushing through legislation which encroaches on the privacy and civil liberties of ordinary citizens.
(Search and Surveillance legislation).

8) NZ lacks the most basic form of transparency in our judiciary when court proceedings are NOT recorded. Particularly in the High Court, I have witnessed and personally experienced the failure to record proceedings, and failure to provide transcripts or recordings of proceedings.

HOW CAN JUSTICE BE DONE OR BE SEEN TO BE DONE WHEN THERE IS NO RECORD IN COURT OF WHAT WAS DONE??

8) Judgments made in public courts are being suppressed by Judges making 'Court Orders' based on 'judicial discretion' - NOT the 'rule of law.

9) Judges are not being held accountable for their behaviour.
The 'Judicial Conduct Commissioner' has yet (to my knowledge) to call together a panel to investigate the conduct of ANY Judge, despite there being over 300 complaints.

The basic definition of 'corruption' is 'misuse of public office for private gain'.

Politicians should NOT be in public office to look after themselves, their families or their 'mates'.

If they don't want to serve the public and the public interest - they shouldn't be there.

Simple.

So - given all the above - how is NZ 'PERCEIVED' to be the 'least corrupt country in the world'??????

Penny Bright
Media Spokesperson
Water Pressure Group
Judicially recognised 'Public Watchdog' on Metrowater, water and Auckland regional governance matters.
"Anti-corruption campaigner"

( I recently attended the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, held in Brisbane 28 - 31 July 2009.)

waterpressure @gmail.com

Penny's comments are obviously well researched; she has investigated thoroughly the way our parliament, local government and judiciary are able to act without proper checks and balances.

My experiences of dealing with the OAG, Ombudsmen, DIA is that each organisation passes the buck. The system is designed to frustrate a person seeking answers to what one believes are corruptive practices in its district council.

The system we have in NZ is dishonorable. The time is well overdue for more people in higher places to take note of Penny Bright’s excellent investigative work and pressure the politicians to make meaningful changes. Then the silly nonsense Transparency International dishes out may have some meaningful relevance.

If there was no corruption in NZ, then I guess we would've scored a 10.0, rather than a 9.4 . So, there is room for improvement, and I applaud everyone striving to make our country a better place.

With my experience of living in seven different "Western" countries (including the UK and US), I have to say that NZ isn't doing too badly over all. You only have to look at the corporate special-interest groups and their shameful efforts to block access to health care for all Americans (by contributing heavily to the campaigns of US congressmen and senators) to know that things could be a lot worse here

Penny's shopping list discloses the inherent paradox of any integrity system. If the emphasis is on rules then all you get is minimal compliance; as with speeding limits on the roads. The sorts of processes she seeks are common in the countries which rate poorly. The ultimate irony is that NZ and Singapore at the top of the CPI are two of the very few countries not to have ratified the UN convention against corruption; ie the corrupt countries sign up but are ineffectual in improving national responses. NZ has the response processes without having made the legal commitment to do so. The essence of trust is a belief in the genuineness of others. Fortunately NZers are able to believe in the genuineness of most of their compatriots. We must keep our house in order, although as Warren Buffett has remarked there is seldom only one cockroach in the kitchen.

http://anticorruptionnz.wordpress.com has more info on this