New Zealand Action Plan Review 2022-2024

This product consists of an IRM review of the New Zealand 2022–2024 action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen.... The action plan comprises eight commitments. This review emphasises its analysis on the strength of the action plan to contribute to implementation and results. For the commitment-by-commitment data, see Annex 1. For details regarding the methodology and indicators used by the IRM for this Action Plan Review, see Section III.

Overview of the 2022–2024 Action Plan

Following an extended co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., New Zealand’s fourth action plan includes promising commitments on institutionalising community engagement practices, beneficial ownership transparency, and online public procurement platforms. It also introduces cross-cutting consideration of indigenous Māori implications. As civil society organisations (CSOs) have noted a lack of ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... in the plan, focused efforts on collaboration during implementation can rebuild civil society-government trust and support achievement of better results.

New Zealand’s fourth action plan includes eight commitments. Most build on previous plans’ progress on anti-corruption, right to information, and public participation. The Public Service Commission | Te Kawa Mataaho (TKM) oversaw the development of the plan in consultation with the Expert Advisory Panel (EAP), a group of six civil society individuals with expertise in public engagement and open government. A new feature of the plan’s design is consideration of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi)[1] and its implications for how commitments are implemented.

Three of the commitments envision promising reforms on public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio..., beneficial ownership transparency, and open procurement. CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 5 is New Zealand’s first OGP commitment on beneficial ownership transparency, aiming to pass legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r... to make beneficial ownership information available through a public register. Building on the previous action plan, Commitment 1 aims to support government agencies to adopt new community engagement practices. Commitment 6, also continuing from the previous plan, would lay groundwork for online platforms to share public procurement information, although significant changes for public access to procurement information will likely depend on continued efforts beyond the implementation period.

While this process met the minimum requirements of the OGP Participation and Co-Creation Standards (see Annex 2),^[2] there are divergent views on the extent to which the principles of co-creation were realized. According to TKM, there were many opportunities for civil society groups to have meaningful involvement in the development of the Plan, including at the later stages of finalisation.[3] According to civil society stakeholders, the development process did not provide sufficient transparency or opportunity to meaningfully engage in decision-making on the development of commitments in the final action plan, particularly in the later period. These stakeholders were also dissatisfied with the degree to which public input was incorporated into the action plan. In response, several CSOs withdrew from New Zealand’s open government work.[4]

An extended co-creation process took place between 2020 and 2022 in four stages: 1) engagement and sourcing of ideas; 2) theming and narrowing ideas to identify potential commitments: 3) refining and prioritising potential commitments; and 4) finalizing commitments and lead government agency support. However, aspirations for co-creation in phases 2-4 were affected by COVID-19-related communication and personnel limitations. In 2020, a public consultation generated 1,500 ideas through meetings with stakeholders around the country.[5] These ideas were synthesised into themes, but the action plan commitments largely emerged from consultation during 2021 and 2022.^[6] In late 2021 and 2022, TKM worked with CSOs, EAP, and government officials to draft 19 commitments through focused workshops.[7] These workshops used a framework proposed by the Ministry for Māori Development | Te Puni Kokiri to include consideration of Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.[8] After workshops in February 2022,[9] CSOs report that opportunities to meet with lead government agencies and participate in finalising the commitments stalled. In response, in September 2022, 12 CSOs submitted 11 proposed commitments, building off the earlier workshop discussions.[10] TKM crafted the final draft plan, which included two of the eleven CSO proposals (Commitments 1 and 3), and reflected two of the proposals’ policy areas in less ambitious commitments (Commitments 7 and 8). Commitment 2 was jointly developed at the workshops in 2022.^[11] The final plan also incorporated government proposals (Commitments 4, 5, and 6). Further public input was truncated, and after a public comment period on the draft beginning in November 2022, the action plan was published in December 2022.

Beyond the action plan’s promising commitments, the remaining five commitments target important policy areas, but their potential for results could be strengthened. Commitments 2, 4, and 7 could take more ambitious steps on deliberative democracy, anti-corruption strategy, and exemptions to the Official Information Act. For instance, where commitments intend to undertake research or reviews, implementers could further commit to undertaking the policy reforms being explored. Commitments 3 and 8 lack sufficient clarity on intended outputs, as the government leads for these commitments were determined late in the co-creation process. Efforts under these commitments would benefit from setting concrete targets to address algorithmic transparency and provision of government services through offline channels as well as online ones.

Government stakeholders reflected that most commitments undertook discrete reforms that contribute to wider efforts underway. During development of the action plan, government bodies were modest in the scope of their OGP commitments to avoid overlapping existing work programs or requiring significant additional resources.[12] This was a concern to civil society stakeholders who supported progressing new reforms through the OGP platform. From EAP members’ perspective, the plan could have gone further to undertake ambitious reforms, sufficiently fund commitments, and institutionalise the open government learning and capacity built through the previous three plans.[13] Beyond the action plan’s commitments, civil society stakeholders continue to encourage efforts on the previous plan’s unfinished commitment to create an authoritative dataset of government organisations as open data. Some also advocate for a challenge commitment on New Zealand’s accession to the UN Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.[14] Notwithstanding a contentious co-creation process, civil society and government stakeholders intend to work together to support implementation of the commitments. To ensure achievement of intended results of the plan, EAP and civil society are keen to see more engagement opportunities during implementation.

IRM recommends a focused effort to improve the level of collaboration. Efforts are underway to replace the current EAP at the end of their term, which provides an opportunity to reset future co-creation processes. EAP members have expressed a wish to see a new Multi-Stakeholder ForumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... established with representation from across government, Te Tiriti partners, and civil society. This body would benefit from equal government-civil society representation and responsibilities for liaising with civil society and approving the co-creation process. In addition, during implementation, TKM could convene a quarterly forum of all stakeholders involved in commitments to share progress, capture institutional learning, and identify synergies across commitments. This greater frequency could help build relationships and trust between government and civil society stakeholders. This process could also offer opportunities for collaboration in related government initiatives taking place outside of commitments. Particularly for commitments that derive from existing government workplans, implementing agencies are encouraged to maintain responsive communication channels for civil society input during implementation in order to fully realise the benefits of co-creation within the open government platform.

Promising Commitments in New Zealand 2022–2024 Action Plan

The following review looks at the three commitments that the IRM identified as having the potential to realise the most promising results. Promising commitments address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context. They must be verifiable, have a relevant open government lens, and have modest or substantial potential for results. This review also provides an analysis of challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to contribute to the learning and implementation process of this action plan.

Table 1. Promising commitments

[1] Te Tiriti o Waitangi or Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between indigenous Māori tribal leaders and the representatives of Queen Victoria, is the foundational statement of the basis for government in New Zealand.

[2] “2021 OGP Participation and Co-Creation Standards,” Open Government Partnership, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ogp-participation-co-creation-standards/.

[3] This information was received from TKM during the pre-publication review period (31 May 2023).

[4] The following CSOs withdrew: Hui E!, the Public Service Association, Child Poverty Action Group, and Amnesty International NZ. See Laurence Millar and Julie Haggie, Transparency International New Zealand, interviews by IRM 12 December 2022 and 7 February, 2023; TINZ’s submission on the draft plan in Open Government Partnership New Zealand Part 2. Collation of Public Submissions Received for New Zealand’s Fourth National Action Plan Draft (November – December 2022) (Wellington: Open Government Partnership New Zealand, 2023), https://ogp.org.nz/assets/New-Zealand-Plan/Fourth-National-Action-Plan/Part-2.-Collation-of-public-submissions-received-for-New-Zealands-Fourth-National-Action-Plan-draft-8-March-2023.pdf.

[5] “Ideas for the Fourth National Action Plan,” Open Government Partnership New Zealand, https://ogp.org.nz/new-zealands-plan/fourth-national-action-plan/ideas-for-the-fourth-national-action-plan-collected-in-our-workshops/.

[6] Catherine Williams, Joint Report: Potential Focus Areas for New Zealand’s Fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan (Wellington: Public Service Commission | Te Kawa Mataaho, 2021), Joint-Report-Potential-focus-areas-for-New-Zealands-fourth-Open-Government-Partnership-National-Action-Plan.pdf (publicservice.govt.nz).

[7] “6 July and 13 July 2022 – EAP, CSO and Officials Meeting,” Open Government Partnership New Zealand, https://ogp.org.nz/open-government-partnership/expert-advisory-panel/6-july-and-13-july-2022-eap-cso-and-officials-meeting/.

[8] Katherine Peet (Network Waitangi Otāutahi), interview by IRM, 14 December 2022; Julie Haggie (CEO Transparency International New Zealand), interview by IRM, 7 February 2023.

[9] Summary of potential commitments emerging from workshop discussions can be seen at Summary-2022-Open-Government-Partnership-NZ-Workshops-on-potential-NAP-4-Commitments.pdf (ogp.org.nz)

[10] The 11 proposed commitments can be seen at https://nzccl.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/CSO_Drafted_Commitments_for_NAP4_combined.pdf

[11] Sara Colcord (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM, 8 and 10 February 2023; Rachel Roberts (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM, 6 December 2022 and 8 February 2023; Farib Sos (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM, 1 December 2022 and 10 February 2023; Sean Audain (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM, 10 January 2022 and 8 February 2023; Suzanne Snively (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM, 9 December 2022 and 8 February 2023; Simon Wright (Expert Advisory Panel member), interview by IRM 9 November 2022 and 8 February 2023.

[12] Kate Rockpool (Principal Advisor, Serious Fraud Office), interview by IRM, 17 February 2023; Liz Palmer and Olaf Buhrfein (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment team responsible for implementation of Commitment 6), interview by IRM, 22 Feb 2023; Wendy Hamilton (GM Data and Systems Capability, Stats NZ) , interview by IRM, 22 February, 2022.

[13] Roberts, interview; Sos, interview; Audain, interview; Snively, interview; Wright, interview.

[14] The Council for Civil Liberties and the Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand Inc support this as a challenge commitment.