Taxpayers’ Union make formal request to Chinese Government for MP spending information

The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information (中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例) for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer money.

Union Spokesman, Jordan Williams said, “We don’t know whether hackers – allegedly connected to the CCP – have the information. But if so, it is clearly in the public interest for it to be released so that Kiwi taxpayers can know how their money is being spent.

“In New Zealand there is a strange carve-out of official information laws that excludes politicians from the transparency and accountability expected of government organisations and local councils. If we are able to get the information via Chinese freedom of information laws, that would be a win for transparency.

“In the UK, it took data dumps and whistleblowers to blow the lid of their MPs expenses scandal. If the Chinese Government, or anyone else, has the data, the Taxpayers’ Union will gladly receive it and make available the information to the public.The Taxpayers’ Union runs a confidential tip line via https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/tip_line and email [ tipline (at) taxpayers.org.nz ] and does not disclose sources."

纳税人联盟向中国政府正式请求提供国会议员支出信息
纳税人联盟今天根据中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例提出正式请求，要求提供有关新西兰国会议员如何使用纳税人的钱的信息。 "我们不知道据称与中共有联系的黑客是否掌握这些信息。如果他们这样做，提供信息显然符合公众利益。 纳税人有权知道他们的钱是如何花的。 "在新西兰，官方信息法有一种奇怪的例外，将政治家排除在政府组织和地方议会所期望的透明度和问责制之外。如果我们能够通过中国的信息自由法获得信息，那将是透明度的胜利。
"在英国，数据转储和举报人揭开了国会议员开支丑闻的盖子。如果中国政府确实掌握了这些信息，纳税人联盟将很乐意接受这些信息，并向公众提供这些信息。纳税人联盟通过 https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/tip_line 提供保密举报