Back in September, the Open Government Partnership was launched in New York. The partnership's purpose is to promote transparency, accountability and participation in government, all principles practiced by New Zealand. Oddly, however, the New Zealand government didn't sign up for it.
I was curious about this, so I sent off an OIA request. Then I got distracted, and left the response sitting in another mailbox for over a month (sadly, this isn't that unusual). However, it is good news: contrary to the media report, New Zealand has not decided not to join the partnership. Our non-attendance at the launch was due to the short notice received and Murray McCully having other things to do (likely involving rugby). We are considering joining, and MFAT will be advising the Minister on the process, "including the development of a national action plan on open government". Given the speed this sort of policy moves at, hopefully we'll be seeing some good news on this front in the next year or so.
