8 May 2013
The New Zealand chapter of Transparency International today released the first wave of its findings to update the 2003 National Integrity Survey. Work has been underway since the beginning of the year on an expanded version of the NIS template upon which most jurisdictions have been assessed. TINZ refers to “…moving well beyond the classical NIS with a much more comprehensive and prescriptive approach than ever before…” with what it calls “Integrity Plus NIS” (yet the classical pillared Greek temple provides the model rather than the tangled birds nest advocated by some at Griffith University.)
The findings should give credence to the low levels of public sector corruption in New Zealand reported every year since the Corruption Perceptions Index was established.
A summary of the work to date is referenced on the TINZ website and set out in the chapter’s May newsletter. The NIS model involves the pillars of good government. Research into the makeup of each of these pillars and the support they give to system integrity is to be released in batches over the next few months.
The release of emergent findings today was an opportunity to recognise the contribution of the late Jeremy Pope both to the creation of Transparency International and to formulating the NIS as a model for consistency in the evaluation of national institutions upon which system integrity depends. Today’s release is also another marker of the centenary of the Public Service Act coming into force in April 1913, and a commemoration of the contribution which an integrity-rich public administration has made to the quality of life in New Zealand.
Today’s release covered the pillars relating to
- Judiciary
- Electoral Management
- Ombudsman
- Supreme Audit Institution, OAG
- Media
- Public Sector Components:
- Fiscal Transparency
- Environmental Governance
- Procurement
The TINZ May newsletter sets out three or four findings about each of these elements. Although none is surprising, the value of the findings lies in the comprehensive research from which they are derived.
Sir Anand Satyanand in chairing the presentation today referred to Kofi Annan, after a visit to New Zealand as the UN Secretary General, declaring that it was “… a country that works…”
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/4158/32116_1.pdf?sequence=1
Integrity Talking Points 