The Government is refusing to release a secret document with directives for new ministers, despite Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters promising it would be made public.

[…] “It’s a bad start for a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who have promised to be a more transparent and open Government,” Bill English said.

The existence of the 38-page document was first revealed by Peters the day after Labour and New Zealand First signed a more slender eight-page public coalition agreement.

Speaking to media after the allocation of ministerial portfolios, he described it as “a document of precision on various areas of policy commitment and development”.

“These are directives to ministers with accountability and media strategies to ensure that the coalition works […]

“We’ve put a lot of thought into it, in fact day one of our negotiations that was the first subject we raised, how are we going to handle a cohesive coalition arrangement?”

At the time, he said the document was still being finalised, but would cover the appointment process for diplomats.

Peters said then the document would be made public, saying it was “for the province of the Prime Minister to release”.

So there is the money shot. The only person who we can blame for the documents not being released is the Prime Minister. Perhaps Ardern is not keen on the general public learning just how desperate the Labour Party was to gain power.

However, in response to an Official Information Act request from Newsroom seeking the document’s release, Jacinda Ardern’s adviser Heather Simpson claimed “the Prime Minister does not hold any such official information”.

Huh? gif

Simpson’s letter referred to Section 2 of the Act, saying official information covered only information held by “a Minister of the Crown in his official capacity”.

[…] Wellington lawyer Graeme Edgeler said the document appeared to qualify as official information based on Peters’ description of it.

[…] While an agreement that covered the parties’ political or parliamentary roles would be exempt from the OIA, that did not appear to be the case here, Edgeler said.

“If … it is going to cover things that the Government is doing as the Government, not as MPs in the House, then I can’t see how this could be refused on the basis it’s not about ministers.”

English said the document was “clearly official information” and should be released, given the public’s need to understand how the new coalition would be run.

[…] A spokesman for Ardern said the coalition agreement which had been publicly released was “the only official document that guides the agreed work programme of Labour and New Zealand First in Government”.[…]

– Newsroom

This to me has the feel of a woman who hides her receipts from her partner after going shopping and then declares that her bags are chock full of absolute bargains.

Credit: SB Whaleoil