This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz

Government departments have been increasingly uncooperative in supplying data about their operations to the public on request, despite their obligations under the Official Information Act (OIA). The Ombudsman has repeatedly raised concerns about the movement away from transparency and accountability by a number of government departments.[1]

In 2015, University of Canterbury lecturer Jarrod Gilbert revealed that academics are forced to sign a contract before being allowed access to police data.[2] This gives the New Zealand Police the power to vet that research before publication, effectively threatening individuals or entire universities with blacklisting. Further, the Minister of Corrections has recently been accused of unlawfully trying to restrict access to prisons even to Members of Parliament.[3]

Such attacks on academic freedom and transparency are unacceptable. The OIA must be tightened to prevent such violations, and public information must be freely available to the public, including academics.

[1] NZ Herald, “Top-level Alarm Over Secrecy Trend,” NZ Herald, 28 September 2012. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10836994.

[2] David Fisher, “Academics Could Be Blacklisted by Police,” NZ Herald, 25 November 2015. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11550677.

[3] Newstalk ZB, “Collins Accused of Restricting MPs’ Access to Prisons,” Newstalk ZB, 3 March 2016. http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/collins-accused-of-restricting-mps-access-to-prisons/.