That growth threatens both democracy and economic success. As more cases emerge, we’re nowhere near outraged enough.
We may still sit fourth equal with Norway in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Still, our score has fallen for the fourth year in a row — and Singapore has overtaken us.
Our relatively-high ranking shouldn’t lull us. The trend is unmistakably downward, and corruption is an insidious cancer.
Larger nations like Australia (12th equal at 76) or the United States (29th equal at 64) can absorb more imperfection. The US score is at its lowest yet, even before accounting for the impact of many 2025 developments.
But New Zealand is small, isolated and economically vulnerable. We must uphold the rule of law and operate efficiently.
Integrity is essential if we want to attract business, investment and people. We need everything going for us to compete and maintain our living standards.
Transparency New Zealand chairwoman Anne Tolley called last year’s fall a wake-up call. This year, she said, ‘‘it sort of feels like the wheels are coming off a bit and that’s really dangerous for our democracy’’.
Another ‘‘wake-up’’ call came from the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime, which urged urgent action to prevent further infiltration of democratic institutions and borders.
In recent years, we’ve seen airport baggage handlers and Customs staff helping import illicit drugs, and a police officer paid $70,000 by an organised crime group for sensitive database information.
Immigration fraud and migrant exploitation have been exposed, and a VTNZ employee in West Auckland took money to pass people on their driving tests.
A Westland District Council official accepted more than $70,000 in bribes, while two Spark IT contractors were jailed for their part in a $4million kickback scheme.
As a beginning, New Zealand now has an Anti-Corruption Taskforce within the Serious Fraud Office, which has examined six government-related agencies.
Worryingly, it found internal fraud and corruption were almost certainly under-reported. Even so, hundreds of possible incidents were recorded, implying many thousands across the wider public sector.
Action on ‘‘hard’’ corruption must be matched by stricter rules and attitudes around lobbying, conflicts of interest and political donations. Much still needs attention.
The recent conflict-of-interest revelations at the Teachers Council are shocking. An advertising company in which the chief executive’s husband was managing director and a shareholder received contracts worth more than $1.7m.
The chief executive did not award the contracts and had partially declared her conflict, but the Public Service Commission found she failed to declare her husband’s shareholding. The conflict management was described as ‘‘overly simplistic’’ and inadequate.
Conflicts of interest are too often handled poorly. New Zealand has relied for too long on easy-going trust, and that trust has been abused. The situation is deteriorating across several fronts.
Fortunately, as Transparency International said, ‘‘New Zealand does not have the deep-seated, systemic bribery common in other nations.’’ But it added that ‘‘recent trends suggest a growing, albeit relatively small, problem that is attracting increased scrutiny’’.
The wider world might be highly corrupt, and two-thirds of nations score under 50.
However, we have no excuse now to be naive or complacent about our fraud, corruption or undue influence.
It is easy to become cynical in the face of what is revealed internationally (the Epstein files) and locally.
Nevertheless, we must hold ourselves — and those we live and work with — to high standards. We must also demand improved laws, processes and attitudes from our government, institutions and businesses.
