Petty Labour Party shoots down expansion of OIA

Press release: ACT New Zealand
June 8, 2016. 5:10pm

The Labour Party proved today their Official Information (Parliamentary Under-Secretaries) Amendment Bill was never about transparency, as they vetoed a move to increase its scope.

ACT Leader David Seymour had moved to bring the Bill back to select committee so it could be expanded to apply to the Ombudsman, the Judiciary, and the Auditor-General.

“The amendment in its current form is redundant, as Under-Secretaries like myself are already subject to the OIA, just via the appropriate Minister’s office," said Mr Seymour.

“This was a great chance to follow the Law Commission’s recommendation to increase the scope of the Official Information Act to cover the Ombudsman, the Judiciary, and the Auditor-General.

“Instead, Labour MPs shot down my suggestion, proving how fragile their commitment to transparency really is. Clearly they’d rather pursue a petty attack on me than improve transparency.”

David Seymour's proposed Supplementary Order Paper is attached here.

ENDS

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