OPINION: Transparency, accountability, and ultimately democracy in New Zealand is under threat because multiple government agencies are breaching the law when it comes to providing official information.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern once promised the most open government ever.
"This government will foster a more open and democratic society. It will strengthen transparency around official information," she said in 2017. This sounds great, but in my opinion, it has not been the reality.
Most New Zealanders will know little about the Official Information Act. Many may not care. But I think all New Zealanders should care because I believe the Act is being widely and summarily abused.
The Official Information Act allows journalists, or any citizen for that matter, to request hidden or background information to understand who made key decisions, how they were made, and what was spent in the process.
This is critically important. Without it, you are left with relying on Government spin. Official information enables public debate, it promotes public participation in key government decisions, and it can help influence or change laws.
It has now become very clear the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, is deeply worried about how this piece of legislation is working. And he should be.
Boshier, and his office, is tasked with ensuring the flow of information is timely and fair. His Office has already produced one report, Ready or Not, which outlined some serious concerns. But this week a new investigation was launched into delays in responding to requests. This is a very welcome development.
He did not mince his words when explaining why a new inquiry was needed. He wants to see if there's "ministerial inference, gaming or unnecessary consultations" embedded in the process. All of this of course constitutes a breach of the law, and there's no shortage of evidence that breaches are happening on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, an official apology for violations of the Act is often all that's provided as an excuse. An apology means nothing if you've been denied the information you were entitled to for so long that it's no longer relevant or important to the public. An example of the frustrations is my dealings with the Health Ministry, which I wrote about here.
The law is very clear. When information is requested, if the agency has it, it needs to be provided to the requester. This must be done in 20 working days. It should be provided "as soon as reasonably practicable". Frustratingly, the 20 days appears to be used as a target to extend requests.
I cannot recall a time in recent years when the official information sought has arrived within 20 days, even when the request is very narrow and specific.
In my opinion, the default position of many government agencies is to request extra time. They use a section of the Act to claim more time is needed for "consultations" on the request.
In reality, I suspect, many requests are not even looked at until the 20-day time limit runs out. On other occasions, like my colleague Jenna Lynch pointed out on Tuesday, agencies delay the return of information so they can get in the ear of a Minister ahead of time to manage any fallout when the information becomes public.
It's not an excuse if OIA teams are overwhelmed with requests for information. They're required to have resources in place. It's not an excuse if government agencies mismanage information, or have poor processes for keeping track of files.
New Zealanders rely on journalists to bring them information in a timely, impartial way. They also expect Government decisions to be critically analysed. Delayed information represents a delay to democracy. All New Zealanders should be worried about that. With an election less than a year away, a crackdown now is more important than ever.
Spurious, erroneous and unlawful delays must end.
Michael Morrah is Newshub's investigations correspondent.
