"The most transparent government ever"

When Labour was elected, they promised that "this will be the most open, most transparent Government that New Zealand has ever had". The reality? Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard just opened Question Time by publicly calling out a Minister over abusive answers to parliamentary written questions, which he called an abuse of the written question process and a contempt of the House. In addition to ordering that the specific questions be answered properly, he has also been forced to award the opposition an additional 20 supplementary oral questions because they've effectively been denied the chance to ask questions in writing. Hopefully that will provide an incentive for the government to curb its abusive behaviour, but at the same time this and other incidents make it clear that on transparency, this government is no different from its predecessors. It is an enemy, not a friend.