How weak is New Zealand's commitment to the Open Government Partnership? In a blog on the OGP website, Transparency International NZ's Murray Petrie pans the government's action plan and its consultation processes:
NZ’s Action Plan is amongst the least ambitious of all 65 member countries in the OGP, and the process by which it was developed and is being implemented is a long way from the ‘co-creation’ between government and civil society that is the objective of the OGP. This latest consultation essentially just repeats a previous consultation on the draft Action Plan, completed in May 2014 prior to the Action Plan being finalised and published in October 2014. The government has not provided information for this consultation on progress since October in actually implementing the commitments in the Plan.
There's a lot more there, in greater detail, but the assessment is overwhelmingly negative. Which echoes my own submission: we've made weak commitments, and the government isn't bothering to consult properly, in violation of OGP rules. Which isn't a good look when you're supposed to be a world-leader in this area.
