Wagner Nicky: Official Information (Openness of District  Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Wagner Nicky: Official Information (Openness of District  Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:633;Page:5269] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I rise to support Dr Jackie Blue’s Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill 2006. National is adamant that we need this bill because sunshine is the best disinfectant and most New Zealanders expect the sun to shine on and to keep clean and healthy all those dark and murky places where their money—that is taxpayers’ money—is being funnelled by this Government. 
As members know District Health Boards New Zealand is an organisation that coordinates the work of 21 district health boards in New Zealand. The district health boards will spend over $10.6 billion of taxpayers’ money this year. If people have been listening to Parliament or reading the newspapers or even talking to their neighbour over the fence they will know that not every dollar is spent wisely. How do we know? Well the district health boards themselves are subject to the Official Information Act so that anyone who is concerned about any issue can seek information about those organisations. Through the Official Information Act we can keep an eye on the proceedings and make sure that everything is above board. So we can have confidence in the district health boards because they are accountable. Their workings are transparent. If the taxpayers’ money is not going as far as we would like it is likely to be because of poor financial management rather than blatant corruption. 
 In fact until now New Zealand has been well known as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. In 2005 the Berlin-based organisation Transparency International rated New Zealand as the third least corrupt country after Iceland and Finland out of a total of 158 countries. The scores range from 10 which is squeaky clean to zero which is highly corrupt and a score of five is the number that Transparency International considers a borderline figure. New Zealand was scored at 9.6 and Kiwis have the right to be proud of that. It is nice to know that we can trust each other and that we have a real commitment to running an honest country. That is a great attraction in the global economy when businesses want to trade with us. It is at our peril that we risk this hard-earned reputation. 
Kiwis as individuals and as a Government have always been known as people of integrity. They are known as people who are prepared to be accountable who will face up to their responsibilities and who will pay back their debts—and that is why this bill is so important. Most New Zealand organisations are subject to the Official Information Act and that is the way we like it. It is the way we can have confidence in an organisation’s honesty and transparency. But District Health Boards New Zealand is not open to public scrutiny. That does not necessarily mean that what it is doing is dishonest or wrong but it is an anomaly and that tends to make us honest Kiwis a little uncomfortable. National believes it is important that this bill is passed so that we can let the sun shine on a possibly dark and murky District Health Boards New Zealand and let it do its great disinfectant work. Finally I thank Dr Jackie Blue for bringing this bill to the House and for reinforcing New Zealand’s reputation as a country of honesty and integrity.