Currently the New Zealand Green Party and The Opportunity
Party have election policies to better regulate lobbying and
political party donations but The Integrity Institute wants
the other four main political parties to also announce
election policies on these important issues that affect
democracy.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development ( OECD) is an intergovernmental economic
organization that works to build better policies for
economic growth, prosperity, and sustainable development.
Recently the OECD reported on how lobbying was regulated and
dealt with by 50 developed countries and New Zealand came
last. Other countries recognise that lobbying
can corrupt democracy and result in Government decisions
that are not in the public interest so they have regulations
to control lobbying. However, New Zealand has no regulations
to control the lobbying of Ministers and officials by vested
interests.
The Integrity Institute is also concerned
about the poor New Zealand regulation of political party
donations. Unlike most other similar countries, there are no
limits on how much can be donated and who can make the
payments or provide other assistance. With the gradual
demise of mainstream news media and journalism, most people
now rely on social media for news but often only get one
side of the story. This year, the political parties on the
right of politics have received 4 times more in donations
than the parties on the left of politics so they have far
more to spend on social media advertising. This means that
those political parties that were established to advance the
interests of businesses, farmers and wealthy people and
those political parties that have followed the money, have a
big advantage over the political parties claiming to
represent the average person, the community and future
generations.
The Integrity Institute considers that
far too many New Zealand Government decisions have been made
in favour of political party donors and lobbyists without
regard for the public interest. The only way to prevent this
happening in future is to follow other countries and have
much better
regulations.
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