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Labour has stalled on its promise to rewrite the Official Information Act, a vital piece of machinery for democracy that is in terrible disrepair, Bryce Edwards writes.
“The Justice Policy Group's constrained capacity is at the core of our need to heavily prioritise our work,” a briefing document said. Stuff In 2019, Justice Ministry officials recommended the Official Information Act should be reviewed. Somewhere in that prioritisation process, the OIA review moved from promise to “potential project” and it was not included in the policy work programme for 2021-2023. Instead, it was listed as one of eight projects “paused or deferred until resources become available”. The other seven affected projects were redacted. Asked what those projects ...
A spokesman for Faafoi said the minister was working with Justice Ministry officials to decide his priorities. “There is a significant workload in the Justice portfolio, including work relating to the Government’s Covid-19 response and election commitments for such issues as family justice reform and looking at whether New Zealanders want changes to the country’s electoral law, including a shift from three-year parliamentary terms to four-year terms.” Open government advocate Andrew Ecclestone was disappointed the review was being kicked down the road, as “it is clear that there ...