New Zealand’s chief trade negotiator Mark Sinclair privately told a visiting US State Department official that New Zealand had little to gain from a free-trade agreement. This view – recorded in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks – differs from the one the public has been given.
I HAVE had many careful meetings with sources during the last 20 years, but never anything as cautious and mysterious as this. I was heading overseas to meet the WikiLeaks team in the midst of heavy threats from the United States government and more imminent threats of police action.
THE WIKILEAKS cables reveal American ambassador Charles Swindell worked ahead of the 2005 election to pressure New Zealand into changing its nuclear-free policy.
It is a sad truth in politics, and maybe all human activity, that when people believe they are acting in secret they do things that they would never do if they believed other people might find out. Often good record keeping and the availability of those records is the best protection we have against deception, dishonesty and corrupt behaviour by people in positions of influence. I hope you recognise this important and powerful effect of your work
The book tells the story of how the New Zealand government handled the unwelcome news of contamination of corn crops with genetically-engineered seeds. Officials succumbed to industry lobbying, quietly changed the regulations to “allow” contaminated crops. ‘managed’ the risk of politicians and the public objecting by keeping the whole incident secret. The book is not about the corn but about the political management. It takes readers step-by-step through the crisis, based on original documents from an unhappy insider.
New Zealand’s Official Information Act is a powerful tool that allows access to a lot of important information. However, my experience has been that the act also has major limitations. New Zealand is overdue for a thorough review of the freedom of information laws.