The Coalition for Open Government was a political pressure group formed in the late 1970s to promote open government in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The Coalition disbanded in the mid 1980s, but re-formed in April 2007, in response to Government plans to rewrite the election finance laws.

History

The group formed in opposition to then Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Robert Muldoon

Robert Muldoon

Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...

's Think Big

Think Big

The New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and his New Zealand National Party government in the early 1980s sponsored Think Big as an interventionist state economic strategy. The Think Big schemes saw the government borrow heavily overseas, running up a large external deficit, and using the...

 programme; It sought to allow greater access to government-held information. The pressure it exerted was important in the adoption of the Official Information Act 1982

Official Information Act 1982

The Official Information Act 1982 is a New Zealand law passed by the 3rd National government in 1982 to "make official information more freely available, to provide for proper access by each person to official information relating to that person, to protect official information to the extent...

.

Patrons

The group's patrons are Lloyd Geering

Lloyd Geering

Sir Lloyd George Geering, ONZ, GNZM, CBE, born 26 February 1918, is a New Zealand theologian, who faced charges of heresy in 1967 for his controversial views. He considers Christian and Muslim fundamentalism to be "social evils"...

, Patricia Grace

Patricia Grace

Patricia Frances Grace, DCNZM, QSO, is a notable Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books....

, Anton Oliver

Anton Oliver

Anton David Oliver is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer who most recently played professionally for the French second-division club Toulon, noted for signing veteran greats including former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and great George Gregan...

and Paul Harris.

External links

• Coalition for Open Government Website