Dame Anne Salmond on what's happening

[Lilith7]

She doesn't pull any punches...

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/06/09/anne-salmond-undermining-democracy/
Comment by Dame Anne Salmond : Corruption has long been recognised as the enemy of democracy.  As the Greek playwright Aristophanes once said, ‘Look at the orators in our republic; once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”
In New Zealand, some Cabinet ministers need to remember that they have been elected to serve the public interest, rather than those of industries involved in mining, quarrying or drilling for fossil fuels; fishing; selling tobacco or carbon farming; or former Cabinet colleagues, for that matter.
On the collusion between politicians and corporations, Adam Smith, ‘the father of capitalism,’ wrote:
“The proposal of any new law or regulation which comes from this order ought never to be adopted till after having been examined with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.”
The ‘Fast-track’ bill, with its history of wining and dining, campaign donations and letters of invitation, and its exclusion of community interests, is a case in point.
Although New Zealand has long enjoyed an enviable reputation for governance that is relatively free of corruption, this is in danger of being lost, as well as our ‘clean green’ reputation. 
Thomas Jefferson’s advice is timely: “The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they have got hold on us.  It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.”
In New Zealand, it’s the Prime Minister’s job to discipline errant colleagues, and to set high standards for integrity.  Instead, we are seeing in this Bill a concerted effort to roll back ministerial accountability to the electorate.