Former TOP candidates Dr Jenny Condie and Jessica Hammond are completely naked in an audacious fundraising video released yesterday for their new political action group Civic. The theme of the video is “naked politics” - tackling the too-hard basket issues with integrity, transparency, and authenticity. The women are strategically covered by props and redactions in the 2-minute long video that calls out the hospital pass which politics-as-usual is delivering to future generations.

The video appears on a Give a Little page to raise funds for a campaign promoting stronger open government laws in New Zealand. More than $1000 has been donated in the first 24 hours.

“Civic is committed to radical transparency, both within our own organisation and in wider government. Our nudity is a gimmick with a serious message - that politics and government should be more open to the public, and that we are determined not only to call for greater transparency, but to be highly transparent ourselves,” said Civic co-founder Dr Jenny Condie. Dr Condie was famously called a “pain in the arse” and asked to resign by former TOP leader Gareth Morgan.

“It was important to us that the nudity was fun and funny, not remotely sexualised.” said Jessica Hammond. “Some people may call it desperate - and we are. We think our country has some pretty scary intergenerational problems on the horizon that we desperately need to address. That’s what Civic is all about.” Jessica Hammond was the third-placed candidate in the Ōhāriu electorate.

As part of this commitment to radical transparency, today Civic released all board documents publicly on their website. Future board documents will be released proactively in an ongoing manner.

The coalition government is taking small steps in the right direction on transparency - proactively releasing Cabinet papers, considering a review of the Official Information Act. Civic wants to support this momentum and turn small steps into giant leaps.

Civic is fundraising on website Give A Little until 2 November.
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/nakedpolitics-transparent-and-open-government

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