THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: THE ROLE FOR PARLIAMENT
THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: THE ROLE FOR PARLIAMENT
Paul Foster-Bell MP is a New Zealand National Party List Member of Parliament based in Wellington Central, currently serves as Deputy Chair of the Education and Science Select Committee and is a Pacific Regional Representative on the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).
New Zealand proudly stands as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Independent corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked New Zealand, in their Corruption Perceptions Index, as the fourth least corrupt country last year (a slight drop of two positions from 2015 - when New Zealand was second placed with a rating of 91, Denmark having achieved a score of 92). We were placed first equal in 2014, again alongside Denmark. But despite being rated as the least corrupt Commonwealth country for a number of years, there still remains work to be done.
Showing leadership
Leadership from the top levels is required to ensure corruption is rooted out. In our local context, Transparency International’s New Zealand branch boasts former Kiwi Parliamentarian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Commonwealth Secretary- General Sir Don McKinnon as its patron.
Our former Governor- General, Sir Anand Satyanand, sits on the board of the international body. We are also currently looking to re-start a Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) branch
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in New Zealand to ensure we retain focus on these important issues. And the Government has taken a number of steps to reduce the possibility of corruption infiltrating our systems.
A notable recent success was the passing of anti-match fixing legislation. Our sporting culture of fair play has stood New Zealand teams in good stead. The world champion All Blacks in rugby union and the Black Caps, our national cricketing team, are both regarded as being honourable and decent, as well as highly successful in their respective codes.
In the wake of the FIFA corruption scandal, and allegations of cricket match- fixing levelled in courts in London, it is positive that we are now one of only three countries to have passed legislation to bring in penalties specifically designed to target corruption in sports at all levels. This helps cement the positive perception of our teams and their players. Similarly, New Zealand has been recognised as having the least corrupt defence force in the Asia-Pacific Region. A 76-question government defence anti-corruption index in late 2015 showed the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) leading our region.
This index gave the NZDF very high marks for strong integrity systems across every risk area: personnel, procurement, operations, political and finance. The NZDF received an ‘A’ rating for being non-corrupt, with the only other defence force to achieve this high rating being that of the United Kingdom. Given defence forms a much larger proportion of government spending for many Commonwealth states than it does for New Zealand, this area could present particular opportunities for reduction in corruption for those willing to address bribery in military procurement in particular. Another area where New Zealand perhaps lagged behind, but has recently caught up, was the ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, after twelve years of consideration. Finally joining 177 other signatories to the agreement, New Zealand has now made a legally binding global commitment to address corruption in both private business and the public sphere. Omnibus legislation
comprising 15 separate bills related to organised crime, money laundering and anti- corruption were passed by the New Zealand Parliament in November 2015, with cross- party support. This legislation
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