Secret state owned assets documents must be released

Treasury documents relating to the sale of state owned assets must be released prior to the election, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

The Green Party this morning wrote to the Ombudsmen’s office requesting they rethink their decision to withhold information relating to National’s plan to privatise state owned assets post-election. This followed on from a complaint from Dr Norman regarding Treasury withholding documents relating to National’s state owned assets policy.

“The sale of state owned assets is a key part of National’s policy going into the 2011 election and the New Zealand public has a right to official information on this policy,” said Dr Norman.

“The New Zealand public has a right to know what work officials have done relating to the sale of our assets overseas.

“The Ombudsmen need to pay attention to words from their own 1991 annual report that stressed ‘the constitutional importance of ensuring that the electorate is informed’.

“The public’s right to be well informed in the week leading up to an election must be paramount,” said Dr Norman.

“The Ombudsmen must come down in favour of the public interest.”