‘‘In my 20-plus years as a journalist, this Govt is one of the most thinskinned and secretive I have experienced. Many of my colleagues say the same.’’
From the moment she took office in 2017, Jacinda Ardern promised her government would be the most open and transparent New Zealand has seen. In her first formal speech to Parliament she pledged to ‘‘foster a more open ... society [and] strengthen transparency around official information’’. Since then the numbers of faceless communications specialists have skyrocketed and the Government’s iron grip on the control of information has tightened.
This year, I have made more complaints to the Ombudsman than in any previous year. So far, every one has been upheld. In my 20-plus years as a journalist, this Government is one of the most thinskinned and secretive I have experienced. Many of my colleagues say the same.
Even squeezing basic facts out of an agency is a frustrating, torturous and often futile exercise.
Take the past week. Two senior Stuff journalists attempted to interview Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, at a time when the China-Australia-NZ relationship is under intense international scrutiny.
It didn’t happen. Not because of any geo-political sensitivities or a trivial diary clash. The paranoid and hyper-sensitive minister objected to taking questions from two journalists at once.
In the same week, Mahuta released detailed reports on the country’s creaking drinking, waste and stormwater infrastructure – an issue that needs urgent public debate. Yet Mahuta refused to answer detailed questions about proposed changes. She opted to give just one interview – cherry-picking a reporter from TVNZ. A coup for the statebroadcaster, but a serious blow to accountability.
I fought my own battle. In early February I requested information about Le Lape´ rouse, a cruise ship refused entry to New Zealand. I wanted to understand more about a decision which cost the country millions of dollars, particularly as the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had previously refused to answer my
questions.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi opted instead to call a short-notice press conference – to which I was deliberately not invited. They didn’t like the questions, and wanted to get ahead of Stuff’s story, to shape the narrative.
This cynical and obstructive behaviour was made all the worse because Faafoi himself is a former journalist. My OIA request – which by law should be answered within 20 working days – was delayed, and eventually took five times that length.
The Ombudsman agreed the hold-up was unacceptable, and I got an apology. It made no difference – MBIE still delivered the information on Wednesday, the date it had originally chosen.
I understand why they were obstructive. Hundreds of pages of emails reveal muddled, confused and dogmatic officials under pressure to justify a controversial decision. But much of the crucial information still appears to be redacted.
It’s now very difficult for journalists to get to the heart and the truth of a story. We are up against an army of well-paid spin doctors.
Since the current Government took office, the number of communications specialists have ballooned. Each minister has at least two press secretaries. (Ardern has four.)
In the year Labour took office, the Ministry for the Environment had 10 PR staff. They now have 18. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade more than doubled their staff – up to 25.
MBIE blew out from 48 staff to 64. None of those five dozen specialists could give me those figures for many weeks – and again I was forced to ask the Ombudsman to intervene.
The super ministry – and their colleagues uptown at the Health Ministry – are notorious for stymieing even the simplest requests. Health’s information gatekeepers are so allergic to journalists they refuse to take phone calls, responding only (and sporadically) to emails.
But it is the New Zealand Transport Agency that takes the cake: employing a staggering 72 staff to keep its message, if not its road-building, on track – up from 26 over five years.
At every level, the Government manipulates the flow of information. It has not delivered on promises to fix the broken, and politically influenced OIA system. It also keeps journalists distracted and overburdened with a rolling maul of press conferences and announcements, which are often meaningless or repetitive and prevent sustained or detailed questioning.
In this age of live-streaming and blogging, organisations often feel obliged to cover every stagemanaged utterance for fear of missing out. And the prime minister’s office makes sure their audience is captured, starting the week and cementing the agenda with a conference call with political editors.
Perhaps the trials and tribulations of the nation’s journalists do not concern you. Why should you care? Because the public’s impression of this government is the very opposite. They see a prime minister that has captivated the world with her ‘authentic’ communication style, intimate social media postings, daily Covid briefings and proactive releases of Cabinet papers.
It is an artfully-crafted mirage, because the reality is very different. This is a Government that is only generous with the information that it chooses to share.