Hipkins Chris: Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:509. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka):I rise to speak in support of the first reading of the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill. Labour will support this bill going through to the select committee and is looking forward to the ongoing debate around these matters.New Zealanders should rightly be proud of the fact that we regularly rank very very well in international studies and surveys when it comes to transparency lack of corruption and so forth but there is no room for complacency as those who have spoken before me have already mentioned. We are consistently among the least corrupt countries in the world. However there are certain warning signs to suggest that we should take this matter very seriously—for example we are seeing a lessening of transparency from this Government. My colleague Annette King mentioned in her speech before the open admission by the Prime Minister that the current Government does not take the Official Information Act seriously—that it will wilfully break the law when it comes to the Official Information Act. That Act is one of the most important instruments we have in our constitutional arrangements to ensure transparency and basically a governing process that is free from corruption. This Government willingly breaks that law and the Prime Minister himself has admitted it.We have the Official Information Act because of the old adage that sunlight is the best disinfectant. When all of the workings of Government are public then people will be forced to act in a way that is honest that is open and that is decent. That is a very good thing. It is not a good thing when the Government does not lead by example and when it willingly flouts the law in the way that it has been doing with the Official Information Act.I went and looked in preparation for this debate at the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of the word “corruption”. It is defined as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power typically involving bribery”—dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. There are many many examples where some of the behaviour that we have been seeing is if not fraudulent certainly dishonest. Take for example the conduct of the Minister who introduced this legislation to the House the Hon—oh no she is not honourable any more. Judith Collins introduced this legislation to Parliament. The irony of that is that Judith Collins introduced this legislation around the time that she took a trip to China to talk about reducing corruption and yet she was surreptitiously visiting Oravida to promote her husband’s business interests. Of course we know that Oravida then gave money to the National Party. I know that people at home will be able to draw their own conclusions about whether or not any of that kind of conduct might fit within the definition that I just mentioned from the Oxford Dictionary.We know that there has been a corruption of the political process in New Zealand because it has been spelt out in great detail in the Dirty Politics book. It is simply a disgrace. For example the cadre of people—and that is the only way you could describe them—with links to the National Party have been engaged in what can only be described as destructive and offensive behaviour that most New Zealanders including New Zealanders who support the National Party and possibly even those who are members of the National Party would find simply disgraceful and yet that is all spelt out here. That is exactly what has been going on within John Key’s National Government.These are the same people who referred to the Christchurch earthquake victims as scum. They referred to the victims of the Pike River mining disaster as feral. These are the people whom John Key and his Government Ministers personally like to associate themselves with and I think those members should hang their heads in shame about that. They have targeted public figures non-governmental organisations political opponents and anybody who gets in their way. They have been targeting them denigrating them smearing their private lives and trying to dissuade them from speaking out publicly. Those are not the actions of a Government that is committed to openness transparency and fighting corruption. Those are not the actions that New Zealanders should be expecting from their current Government. It has been revealed that not only have the Prime Minister’s staff been involved directly in supporting that kind of behaviour but in fact Ministers themselves have been involved directly in supporting those kinds of activities.It should be very concerning to all New Zealanders when we are debating measures to fight corruption that those kinds of smear campaigns were used to undermine regulators like the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Markets Authority. If we are really serious about being an open transparent country that is free from corruption the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Markets Authority should be able to go about their business without having the Government or its surrogates smearing the activities of those who are doing their jobs and yet we have seen spelt out in black and white clear examples of where that has happened.Ultimately it cost Judith Collins her ministerial position and that is right and proper. But have we ever seen any concrete action from the Prime Minister to put an end to the activities that underpinned her resignation? No we have not. Let us be clear what this was. This was the Minister of Justice being involved in a smear campaign against senior officials in the Serious Fraud Office. That is simply—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I would just like to ask the member to come back to the bill and to warn him about going too far into the facts of something that is currently being investigated by the police. I think the member could narrow himself back.CHRIS HIPKINS: I am happy to do that. To return to the bill I want to turn to Transparency International’s definitions and descriptions of what corruption involves. This is from Transparency International: “Corruption generally comprises illegal activities which are deliberately hidden and only come to light through scandals investigations or prosecutions.” One of the reasons that scandals arise in New Zealand and investigations and prosecutions can take place is that we have a very open system of Government now. We have an Official Information Act that allows New Zealanders to get access to information. Many of the scandals that have been unearthed have used those mechanisms of Government like the Official Information Act to unearth the very behaviour that this bill seeks not just to limit but basically to stop from happening.Therefore it is incumbent upon the Government of the day to lead by example when it comes to making sure that there is transparency around its activities. Yes some scandals are bigger than others but scandals will typically be unearthed only when somebody either seeks out the information—digs for the information and puts all of the pieces of the puzzle together—or blows the whistle. They are not going to be doing that if their access to information is shut down because people willingly do not follow the law when it comes to things like the Official Information Act or if the people whose job it is to enforce those laws and regulations are smeared or actively undermined whether it be from within or from without the Government. So it is very important that we continue to be vigilant when it comes to those things. I think we have seen some very clear examples just recently of where the current Government has not lived up to the type of behaviour that New Zealanders should rightly be able to expect from their Government.I want to say that the Labour Party will be supporting this bill going through to the select committee. It is going to be an interesting debate and I think that we will be getting into this in much greater detail as it progresses. We should feel fortunate in New Zealand that we are a country that is relatively free from corruption and that we regularly rate very highly in the international surveys and studies that are done. That is something to be proud of but it is not something to be complacent about. New Zealand should continue to rank highly in those surveys. We will do that only if we continue to maintain our vigilance. That is one of the many reasons that the Labour Party will be supporting this bill.