Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

28 March 2024

Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Parliament Buildings
Private Bag 18041
WELLINGTON 6160

Tēnā koe Mr Peters

FOLLOWING UP ON PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE GOVERNMENT'S PREPAREDNESS TO IMPLEMENT THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

As you will be aware, the Office of the Auditor-General carries out performance audits of the activities of public organisations. In our audits, we make recommendations and offer insights to assist public organisations to improve their performance. These reports are tabled in Parliament.

We also carry out targeted follow-up work related to our performance audits. This follow-up work helps to give Parliament and the public confidence that recommended improvements are being made by public organisations.

The purpose of this letter is to seek clarification on what the Government's next steps are for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the sustainable development goals. This will help us decide how to follow up on the performance audit we carried out in 2021: The Government’s preparedness to implement the sustainable development goals.¹

Background

In 2015, New Zealand, alongside all United Nations members signed up to Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda). The 2030 Agenda seeks to improve life for current and future generations, particularly for those who are more vulnerable or described by the 2030 Agenda as being "the furthest behind". It sets out 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. These goals encompass social, environmental, and economic sustainable development. Each goal has several targets designed to create urgent action. There are 169 targets overall.

The 2030 Agenda is not a legally binding agreement. This means that countries can determine what their commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs will be. This can include countries setting their own targets for the SDGs to make them relevant to their circumstances.

Our performance audit

In 2021, we carried out a performance audit of the Government's preparedness to implement the SDGs.

The audit focused on the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Treasury, Statistics New Zealand, and the Ministry of Social Development. The audit looked at agency contributions to the SDGs, and monitoring and reporting arrangements for the SDGs.

What we found

The then Government stated that it intended to achieve the SDGs "through a combination of domestic action, international leadership on global issues and support for developing countries".

New Zealand has committed to publishing two Voluntary National Reviews to look at progress towards the SDGs. The Government produced its first report in 2019. He waka eke noa Towards a better future, together: New Zealand's progress towards the SDGs- 2019 highlights a range of policies and activities that broadly contribute to the SDGs.

Although the 2019 report refers to some targets that align with SDGs, such as reducing child poverty and greenhouse gas emissions, it had not specified targets for all the SDGs that New Zealand has committed to achieving by 2030, or whether the country is on track to achieve them.

We made seven recommendations designed to encourage the Government to set out a clearer path towards achievement of the SDGs, including clarifying it's commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

A second Voluntary National Review is due to be completed before 2030.

What has happened since our report was published

Our audit team appeared before the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee on 21 October 2021 to discuss the report and its recommendations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Treasury and Statistics New Zealand were then called to appear before this Committee on 25 November 2021.

At the November meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade noted that the Ministers who have responsibility for the SDGs would need to decide what action would be taken as the result of our report.

Next steps

We would appreciate clarification of this Government's position on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, including whether there is still a commitment to implement the SDGs, and who in the Government is responsible for overseeing implementation. This will help us to consider further follow-up work, which could include carrying out an additional performance audit at a later date.

When we have decided what follow-up work we will do, we may write to you again, or write to relevant entities, to seek further assistance.

Publication of your response

As is usual with correspondence about our follow-up work, we would like to publish any response you provide. This will assist in providing transparency to the general public about the Government's intentions for the SDGs.

I very much appreciate your assistance with this request.

Nāku noa, nā

Leeanne McAviney
Assistant Auditor-General, Sector Performance

1: Our performance audit report is available on our website at this link: The Government’s preparedness to implement the sustainable development goals - Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand (oag.parliament.nz).