Labour’s OIA Reform Missing One Thing: Parliament

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming Labour’s commitment to reform the Official Information Act, but says Rt Hon Chris Hipkins appears to have forgotten the biggest gap in New Zealand’s transparency regime.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigative Lead, Rhys Hurley, said:

“Chris Hipkins is right that the OIA needs strengthening, but he seems to have forgotten about the biggest hole in the Act.”

“Members of Parliament expect government departments and Ministers to open their books to public scrutiny, while Parliament itself remains carved out. Any serious transparency reform needs to address that gap.”

“Fortunately, there's still has time to fix this mistake in their plans. If Labour wants to rebuild trust in government through greater transparency, applying those principles to Parliament is the best place to start.”