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Green shoots of open government

Opinion by Max Rashbrooke on November 20, 2019

One of the current government’s most famous commitments was Clare Curran’s statement that it would be the “most open, most transparent” administration ever. I think this is technically true, in the sense that it hasn’t unwound any previous open-government policies, problems like abuse of the Official Information Act are probably no worse than previously, and…

Pressure for mayoral candidate transparency begins to bear fruit

Opinion by Max Rashbrooke on September 30, 2019

Transparency International’s Wellington Mayoral candidate forum last week showed contenders promising – and providing – greater transparency and citizen participation, going well beyond what the law requires. The pressure for more openness, created by many years’ work by civil society groups, was evident at the forum, held at Wellington’s Old Government Buildings on Thursday 26,…

Three decades of Rich List growth

Opinion by Max Rashbrooke on August 31, 2019

I’ve just run the numbers on the latest NBR Rich List, released earlier this month. The graph below shows how the List has grown in the three decades of its life. Very rapidly, is the short answer: from $13 billion to $84 billion (in constant 2015 dollars). It has almost doubled – increased by 95%…

The politics of love and power

Opinion by Max Rashbrooke on July 21, 2019

In recent years the idea of love has become increasingly important in political thinking. It’s one of life’s main driving forces, of course. But it’s not a word that has in previous decades been much associated with politics. In the New Zealand context, Max Harris – channelling a range of thinkers including bell hooks –…