Still comparatively easy to do business in New Zealand

1 November 2013

The World Bank’s Annual Ease of Doing Business survey, released this week, shows New Zealand to be more or less holding its own over each of the 11 business indicators used to assess most of the world’s economies. New Zealand retained an overall  3rd place as in last year’s survey.

The survey measures the efficiency and strength of laws and institutions that shape the life cycle of businesses, comparing economic environments over time. The aim is that countries are encouraged to promote more efficient regulation. New Zealand was recognised as making an improvement this year in resolving insolvency issues although in three other aspects standards slipped. Although ranked most efficient in Starting a business and Protecting investors, the time and cost of Getting electricity ranked New Zealand as 45th, impacting on its overall place.

2014 Ease of Doing Business (Top Ten)

1   Singapore

2   Hong Kong

3   New Zealand

4   United States

5   Denmark

6   Malaysia

7   South Korea,

8   Georgia

9   Norway

10 United Kingdom

11 Australia

12 Finland

13 Iceland

14 Sweden

15 Ireland

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/16204/19984.pdf?sequence=1

www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/new-zealand

https://integritytalkingpoints.com/2012/10/27/new-zealand-still-among-world-leaders-for-doing-business/

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November 1, 2013

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New Zealand forms part of the 4th Open Government cohort

31 October 2013

The Open Government Partnership Summit is now under way in London. New Zealand is attending as part of the cohort which will achieve membership status in April 2014.  Australia, Serbia  and Mongolia are in the cohort with New Zealand, but in an interesting coincidence, having faced-off against each other on the netball court tonight, so is Malawi.

The Guardian has created an Open Government hub as part of its Public Leaders’ Forum in conjunction with the Summit.  A rash of Open Government activities is breaking out.  The Open Data Institute set up 12 months ago by Sir  Tim Berners-Lee  to stimulate economic, environmental and social innovation through a system of open data sharing and analysis, has now launched  13 international centres, to bring together companies, universities, and NGOs that support open data projects and communities. And yesterday the 2013 Open Data Index was published by the Open Knowledge Foundation.  The pecking order is

1                     United Kingdom

2                     United States

3                     Denmark

4                     Norway

5                     Netherlands

6                     Australia

7                     Finland

8                     Sweden

9                     New Zealand

10                 Canada

It is not surprising with the commitments being made this week by Australia and New Zealand, that the top ten are part of the OGP.  The index measures as “open data” national information which can be freely used, reused and shared by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. The evaluation is based on technical and legal qualities which ensure that free reuse.

Open data is one of the five themes of the OGP Summit. Making data available is seen as essential for better public services, growth and accountability.  The other themes are:

• Government integrity: fighting corruption and strengthening democracy through transparent government

• Fiscal transparency: joining a new global standard in the automatic exchange of information to ensure taxpayers can follow their money

• Empowering citizens: transforming the relationship between citizens and governments

• Natural resource transparency: working towards a common global reporting standard, ensuring that payments for extractives and natural resources are transparent and used for public benefit.

 

https://index.okfn.org/

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/28/uk-top-open-data-index-how-countries-compare

www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2013/oct/30/francis-maude-open-government-partnership-summit

www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/29/web-inventor-open-data-institute-new-global-network

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November 1, 2013

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New Zealand will be part of Open Government summit

26 October 2013

The assurance given to the British Prime Minister in September that New Zealand would join the Open Government Partnership can be anticipated occurring next week as part of the Open Government Partnership Annual Summit.  New Zealand will be the newest country committing to the OG Declaration.

Although there has been no formal statement of the New Zealand intention first disclosed by Mr Key en route to his weekend with the Royal Family at Balmoral, a media release yesterday about a visit by Dr Coleman to the United States also indicated that the Minister of State Services will attend the London OGP summit from 31 October – 1 November 2013.

An announcement of Australian participation at the summit shows possibly even less enthusiasm than New Zealand.  Australia will be represented by not by a Minister but by its Chief Technology Officer and supporting officials.

The OGP believes its effectiveness flows from a shared sense of purpose between governments and their respective civil societies.  The New Zealand chapter of Transparency International  was the only NGO to express any interest when on 20 September Mr Key indicated an intention to join the OGP, but neither TINZ – nor any other group – has yet suggested representing New Zealand civil society at the OGP summit.

Promotional material about the summit suggests that “…participants – including representatives from civil society organisations, businesses and governments – will share experiences from their respective countries and provide real examples of how openness can improve public services, drive economic growth, reduce poverty and corruption, and restore public faith in government…”

“Each government coming to London has been asked to announce an ambitious new open government commitment to be integrated in their OGP action plan.  OGP will also welcome new participating countries, and will announce the launch of five thematic working groups, four multilateral partnerships, and a new Open Government Prize Competition.”

New Zealand and Australia will be among five or six new comers.

www.beehive.govt.nz/release/coleman-visit-washington-and-london

https://integritytalkingpoints.com/2013/09/19/nz-will-blend-its-open-government-processes-into-the-ogp/

https://integritytalkingpoints.com/2013/10/15/will-new-zealand-be-as-bold-as-the-irish-about-open-government/

www.opengovpartnership.org/get-involved/london-summit-2013#sthash.Yd1oDF9A.dpuf

http://foi-privacy.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/ogp-summit-hold-that-australian-chair.html#.UmtBZvmno8E

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October 26, 2013

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Leaders must be trustworthy

22 October 2013

The Royal New Zealand Navy inevitably will be squirming as one its most senior half dozen officers is dismissed the service after a court martial which found him guilty of deceit-related offences.

Military command roles, no less than leadership responsibilities anywhere, require trustworthiness. Someone known to advance their personal interests through deceit will speedily lose the confidence of all who relate to them.  The spirit of service has its foundation in selflessness. Leaders are effective because of that concern and respect for others, a commitment to those about them, their loyalty, fairness, a striving for excellence and their willingness to be held accountable for what they do.  These are some of the characteristics that shape integrity – the wholeness of personality.

Someone who cannot be trusted will not be effective in working through others.  Leadership requires honesty and the courage to be open. Someone who does not do what they say they will, and does not say when they are unable to do what they imply they will do, lacks integrity.  “If you have integrity, nothing else matters; if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters” (AK Simpson).

It may well be that the RNZN’s embarrassment is trumped by the latest scandal in the United States Navy. Several senior officers, relieved of command responsibilities, have been arrested as participants in a long standing scheme by a defence contractor to massively overcharge for servicing and supplying US Navy ships at ports around the Pacific.  Suborned officers “…plied  with prostitutes, cash, luxury hotel rooms, and plane tickets …” made arrangements for  “…at least one high-ranking commander to steer aircraft carriers and other vessels to ports where (the defence contractor) could easily overcharge the Navy for pierside services…”

 

www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9310289/Navy-man-made-to-walk-plank

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senior-officer-ncis-agent-are-among-those-arrested-in-navy-bribery-scandal/2013/10/19/e9a1e9b6-3753-11e3-bda2-e637e3241dc8_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop

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October 23, 2013

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Africa has huge rule of law disparities – Ibrahim Index

20 October 2013

The rule of rule has deteriorated in Africa over the last 12 months.  That is one of the findings of the Ibrahim Index, published in mid October each year.  Having little direct relevance to New Zealand, the index assesses development in Africa.  The 52 countries covered this year exclude both Sudan and South Sudan as insufficient data was available.  Ironically Mo Ibrahim, a philanthropist who established the Index, is Sudanese.

The index marks countries for their progress in four categories: human development, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity, and safety and the rule of law.

“There were no surprises at the top – and bottom – ranked countries overall. At the upper end of the scale, Mauritius was followed by Botswana, Cape Verde and Seychelles. These four countries have shared the four top slots, in various positions, since the index was launched….

Somalia was the poorest performing country overall and in all four categories, a position it has held for the past seven years. Second from bottom was the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by Eritrea and then the Central African Republic.

Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Burundi have made the biggest improvements since 2000, while Madagascar, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia and Libya have deteriorated the most over that period.”

The rule of law and safety category (which measures judicial process, accountability and transparency, corruption, social unrest, violent crime, conflict and refugees) had marks ranging from Botswana at 88.9% to Somalia at 4.9%. Mali and Egypt both had substantial deteriorations in the quality of their rule of law.

The Ibrahim Foundation has not awarded its Ibrahim Prize for a fourth time in the last seven years.The award is for a democratically elected former African leader who on stepping down from office shows excellence in a continuing commitment to good government.

www.moibrahimfoundation.org/iiag/

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/oct/14/ibrahim-index-african-law-economy

 www.bdlive.co.za/africa/africannews/2013/10/14/african-governance-improving-mo-ibrahim-index-shows

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October 20, 2013

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Anti Bribery Convention working group says NZ must do better

19 October 2013

Last week the OECD working group on the Anti Bribery Convention published its Phase 3 report on compliance by New Zealand with its membership obligations. The report is a bit like the curate’s egg.  The substance of the report comprises the findings of an evaluation team with experts from Israel and Korea who examined officials and made site visits in April. It incorporates New Zealand’s responses. The “good in parts” aspect is that the Serious Fraud Office began two investigations into foreign bribery allegations while the evaluation team was in the country, the first – and perhaps symbolic –indication of a commitment to responding to unlawful conduct in overseas markets.

The tenor of the report is that the perceived wisdom in New Zealand is that organisations and their employees will not act in a corrupting way. That has led to minimal promotion of convention obligations and a reticence to adapt New Zealand law to ensure a framework for responding if foreign bribery is detected.

The bad egg bits are the slow response to previous recommendations.  The Phase 2 report in 2008 had 20 recommendations of which apparently only 3 were fully implemented. The focus this time around was on outstanding aspects including liability of legal persons, awareness-raising, reporting obligations, tax, accounting and auditing, investigation and prosecution, extradition, and sanctions.

Particular concerns were that New Zealand hasn’t clearly outlawed all conduct which breaches the convention, imposing serious consequences for both the organisations involved and their staff, and amended tax legislation not only to preclude any advantage from facilitation payments but requiring that relevant tax information is shared with agencies enforcing the convention .

The working group has again produced a list of recommendations, ranging from significantly stepping up an investigation and enforcement capability, legislating for a number of technicalities including aspects of a “legal person”,   raising commercial awareness, and promoting the Protected Disclosures Act as a compliance resource, to excluding offending organisations from government contracts.

Transparency International with its measurement report on international compliance with the Anti Bribery Convention has stolen much of the OECD thunder.  TI was an observer at the examination of agencies when the experts visited New Zealand in April, and published its report earlier in October, ahead of the Working Party’s.

www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/NewZealandPhase3ReportEN.pdf

www.transparency.org/whatwedo/pub/exporting_corruption_progress_report_2013_assessing_enforcement_of_the_oecd

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October 19, 2013

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SSC reshapes programme for State services integrity

17 October 2013

In its annual report published this week, the State Services Commission indicates a changing emphasis in its integrity oversight.

The Commissioner’s requirement that the chief executives of Public Service Departments, Independent Crown Entities,  Autonomous Crown Entities and Crown Agents disclose their gifts, hospitality and expenses on a six monthly cycle is to stretch to an annual report.

This reduction in frequency of disclosure – and arguably the public confidence engendered by avoiding delay in the availability of information – is contrary to moves in other comparable jurisdictions.  For example, the UK Civil Service which has a more demanding disclosure obligation on its Departmental heads, and imposed also on other senior officials, requires data to be published each quarter.

The annual report confirms the information posted on the SSC website in August that it will use a new survey to determine State Servants’ perceptions of integrity in their workplaces. The previous surveys (2007 and 2010) used the Ethics Resource Center question-set on which the United States National Business Ethics Surveys are based. The surveys measured penetration of the “6 Trust Elements” necessary for organisational integrity.  Q&As on the website indicate that the 2013 survey will again measure elements relating to those Trust Elements. However there is no indication whether the replacement survey questions will facilitate meaningful comparisons with other jurisdictions.  As SSC gives prominence to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index as a trustworthiness measure because of its universal catchment, comparing standards is clearly important to it.  The 2013 responses will build on the data base gathered from previous surveys, and can be anticipated providing enriched assessments specific to the State Services.

With campaigning for a general election beginning within a year, SSC has flagged its advisory role, although interestingly referring only to public servants. That may mean that the guidance for State Servants – those to whom the code of conduct applies – as prepared prior to the last two general elections, may target a narrower readership next year.

An observation in the Performance Improvement Framework assessment of the SSC was that “…It is therefore important that SSC works to strengthen the awareness of integrity issues and maintains pro-active engagement with all agencies to reinforce their importance…”  Confusingly, rather than planning an assertive promotion of integrity across the sector, the suggestion in the annual report is of an inward perspective (to the extent that the following sentence has any discernible meaning).

“… In 2013/14 a key focus is sharpening integrity information to inform all of SSC’s work and supplement other information sources, and increasing the integrity focus in all of SSC’s work-in particular SSC’s work in aiding the development of high levels of system performance…”

Get it?

www.ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/ssc-annual-report-2013.pdf

www.ssc.govt.nz/integrity-and-conduct-survey-2013

http://ethics.org/topic/national-surveys

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October 17, 2013

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Will New Zealand be as bold as the Irish about open government?

15 October 2013

Ireland has published its Action Plan which is the primary membership commitment of the Open Government Partnership. Ireland is in cohort 4 (together with Australia, Malawi, Mongolia, Serbia, and Trinidad and Tobago) which New Zealand has the opportunity to join if it formally applies for membership by December.  Cohort 4 will be admitted to membership in April 2014 on submission of their action plans.

As Ireland has scale and governance similarities with New Zealand, the aspirations of the mixed government and civil society groups which developed its action plan may indicate the sorts of social changes OGP membership could stimulate in New Zealand.

The 62 commitments in the Irish action plan are collated as

9 Accountability goals,

22 Citizen Participation goals,

12 Technology and Innovation goals, and

19 Transparency goals.

These involve e-government focused activities which seem to many to typify open government –  publishing data sets, releasing spatial data under open licences and promoting the repackaging and republication of that data.  But the Irish also have an extensive list of measures to strengthen democracy and improve the quality of public services. These include

  • rebuilding public trust through measures that improve accountability in the financial sector
  • enhancing the Auditor General’s powers to tackle waste of public resources
  • strengthening openness of accountability institutions including the implementation plan for UNCAC membership, and promoting corruption prevention and education
  • reforming the Ethics Act and conflicts of interest controls for officials and politicians
  • publishing advice where the Attorney General advises that  there are legal impediments on implementing  recommendations of accountability bodies
  • legislating for corporate criminal liability so entities and their owners are subject to criminal proceedings
  • staffing accountability institutions with specialists who can build an integrated approach to accountability, requiring ethics declarations and scrutinising for illicit enrichment
  • doing away with the “loser pays” practice regarding costs of public interest litigation
  • strengthening the Lobbying Bill to regulate lobbyists and those who are lobbied
  • updating the  code of conduct for politicians and officials at national and local level;
  • publishing diaries of Ministers and their advisers and requiring disclosure of all organisations in contact with a Minister while developing legislation and policies
  • enhancing  participation by children and young people in the democratic process
  • reducing the voting age to age 16
  • introducing citizens’ initiatives
  • enshrining a commitment to sustainability in the Constitution
  • introducing public participation in budget allocation
  • conducting a referendum on a Bill of Rights
  • envisioning change to a more dynamic form of citizenship
  • adopting the G8 Open Data charter
  • disclosing when government spending exceeds specified levels
  • encouraging on-line participation in government
  • improving transparency and availability of data
  • imposing transparency of court decisions
  • publishing a list of all advisers to politicians and political parties
  • publishing consolidated material on public policy
  • increasing transparency relating to meetings of government

and so on. 

The composition of New Zealand’s open government commitments will be interesting to see. Much of what is planned by the Irish seems to be of considerable constitutional significance. For them, OGP will not be business as usual.

www.opengovpartnership.org/

www.ogpireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/13-10-02-OGP_ConsultationReport_FINAL.pdf

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October 15, 2013

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Using public funds for personal interests

14 October 2013

In a number of jurisdictions, and particularly the United States, “public service” is a generic term used to refer to all officials. Media reports of public service corruption often relate to misbehaving politicians. Throughout the United States, politicians seem to be a fruitful source of stories for failing to meet the standards they expect of others.

Because a national Public Service was created as a statutory institution in both Australia and New Zealand more than a hundred years age, it is uncommon for politicians to be described as being in “public service” .  Our media readily distinguish politicians and agency staff, a distinction simplified because there are no political appointees in the Public Service ( not that there is much awareness of how the Public Service differs from the State Services, the State Sector or the Public Sector. )

Over the last ten days it has been Australian politicians who have been in the spotlight.  Commonwealth MPs seem to be bumping up against their integrity obligations. The Prime Minister has been entangled in a brouhaha about MPs charging personal expenses as if incurred in the course of public business.

The Prime Minister and other prominent MPs are repaying money for faulty expense claims, charged as if personal travel were for political purposes. He sought a refund for participation costs at an ironman race and claimed more than $23,000 for travel, including taking his wife and a daughter to the Melbourne Cup. None of which fits within the prescription of  ”official business”.

Inappropriate claims in Australia don’t seem to have yet reached the level that brought about an inquiry in Britain into MPs’ expenses claims,  but convenient international travel, and costs of attendance at weddings and sports events are apparently widespread among the activities MPs feel should be paid for from public funds.  No MP in the Australian Parliament receives less than $500,000 a year in salary, expenses, allowances and perks according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

But the scale of these incidents is minor when compared with a report about the former head of Russia’s Ministry of Defence property management administration. A political appointee and close friend of the Defence Minister sacked last year for facilitating fraudulent sales of more than $60m worth of military assets, she has been charged with fraud, money laundering and misuse of office. When arrested, cash and jewellery valued at more than $3.9 m were taken from her luxury flat.  She is aged 33.

TheDominion Post report includes a comment that this case is small fry in the kleptocracy of today’s Russia.

.

www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/happy-as-a-pig-in-perks-20131011-2vdt4.html#ixzz2hY0UvXQN

www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/happy-as-a-pig-in-perks-20131011-2vdt4.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_parliamentary_expenses_scandal

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20131004/183945953.html

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9669022/Revealed-Yevgeniya-Vasilyeva-the-woman-who-brought-down-Russian-defence-minister-Anatoly-Serdyukov.html

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October 14, 2013

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Does the Anti Bribery Convention require more of New Zealand?

13 October 2013

Last week Transparency International published its latest research into the extent to which OECD member states are fulfilling obligations under the Anti Bribery Convention. New Zealand’s position has unchanged since the last report, being listed again as one of the states taking “Little or No Enforcement” action in respect of the bribery of foreign officials, and doing little to raise awareness of anti bribery legislation among companies operating in overseas markets. Unsurprisingly, the observations are similar to the 2009 OECD review of New Zealand’s compliance with the Convention.

A Transparency International NZ media release suggests that the incidence of corrupting payments is greater than acknowledged although two recent Serious Fraud Office investigations were illustrative of appropriate action.

However TINZ views on the frequency of bribe paying appear to be shaped by questionable survey responses. The TI Global Corruption Barometer 2013 suggested that 3% of New Zealanders are paying bribes to a range of agencies including for Police, education and judicial services. The only credible explanation for these responses is that migrants, unaware of application and filing fees for public services set by regulation, believe such payments are gathered by officials as a personal benefit.

Were the concerns based on a belief that officials were insufficiently independent – creating the potential for conflicts of interest – or a lack of transparency in some aspects of agency activities, greater credence could be given to the Corruption Barometer.  That 3% of people interacting with New Zealand courts have paid a bribe is so unlikely,  that the other survey responses must also be suspect.

It is most improbable that circumstances would arise in New Zealand similar to those reported this week from Indonesia where the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court has been arrested on corruption charges. In a sting, Corruption Commission officers seized three luxury cars and cash, the equivalent of NZ$220,000, allegedly paid to facilitate an election outcome.

http://transparency.org.nz/

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/10/03/mk-chief-justice-golkar-lawmaker-arrested-bribery-charges.html

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October 13, 2013

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