Strategic priority 4: Building on our reputation as a source of trusted information

The ultimate purpose of all the Office’s work is that Parliament and the public can have trust and confidence in the public sector.

Because identifying weaknesses and making recommendations for improvement is a core aspect of our work, we have an interest in how public organisations respond to specific recommendations and how they use our findings to improve more broadly.

Our findings carry weight because of our independence and the quality of our work. Our findings are a source of trusted information that often maintain relevance after the work has been published. We want to see our information sourced and used by the broadest range of public organisations to guide improvements in their practices.

Trust, once lost, is hard to regain. Therefore, we are also interested in how public organisations manage the risks from misinformation and disinformation eroding public trust.

Tracking the impact of our past work

Within two years of completing a performance audit, we write to the audited public organisation to see what progress it has made with our recommendations. We publish the organisation’s response on our website and use it to decide whether any further follow-up work is needed. This lets us maintain a focus on the changes made as a result of our work.

In 2025/26, we will consider what type of follow-up is appropriate for the matters raised in these performance audit reports:

• Making infrastructure investment decisions quickly;
• Monitoring importers of specified high-risk foods;
• Meeting the mental health needs of young New Zealanders;
• Understanding and addressing educational disparities;
• Immigration New Zealand: Managing how it makes decisions about skilled residence
  visas; and
• How public organisations are fulfilling Treaty settlements (this is likely to be the first of a series of follow-ups).

Helping public organisations to make progress

Our work often shines a light on matters of public interest and public sector performance that go beyond the specific organisations and issues considered in a report.

For example, our recent report on the implementation of Treaty settlements looked at how well public sector arrangements support public organisations to meet their settlement commitments. The audit team spoke with and considered evidence about 16 public organisations, but the report’s insights and recommendations are relevant to all public organisations with settlement commitments.

For sustained impact from our work, we need to focus on better connecting our work with a broader range of people and organisations, and connecting with people who are best placed to drive improvements within their own organisations. They are the people involved in functions such as planning, reporting, financial management, procurement, programme management, policy and internal audit.

In recent years, we have convened regular events that bring together people with expertise and knowledge about good practice in managing the issues we see across the public sector. Feedback on this work is positive.

In 2025/26, we will continue to convene regular events, including:

• a twice-yearly event summarising our core insights for Tier 2 leaders across the public sector;
• continuing our Audit and Risk Committee Chairs’ Forum, with eight forums each year covering topics relevant to local and central government;
• leading a series of events for public sector Integrity Day;
• continuing to host and support Transparency International New Zealand’s events, and
• initiating events to present the more significant work of the Office to particular audiences.

We will also seek to improve connection to our information with:

• communities of practice and professional bodies in the public sector that can apply the findings of our work in their organisations; and
• public organisations and non-governmental organisations that can use our work as a basis for lifting trust and performance in the public sector.

We will continue to engage with public organisations about projects that were in our 2024/25 work programme, such as our performance audit on Treaty settlements and our major inquiries.

We will continue to provide information to newly elected officials such as councillors and board members about our role and how we help to ensure they meet their legal and ethical obligations. Providing this information to mayors and councillors after the local elections later in 2025 will be a key focus for the Office in 2025/26.

Examining what public organisations are doing about threats to trust

In recent years, it has become much easier for people to access information online. It has also become much easier for misinformation  and disinformation to propagate online.⁷ Misinformation and disinformation can erode trust in the public sector, disrupt social cohesion, and pose a threat to health and life.

Public organisations need to understand the risks of misinformation and disinformation to their operations and have strategies in place to manage these risks. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet leads work to increase understanding and resilience against the harms from deliberate promulgation of disinformation.

We are interested in how well public organisations are managing the risks arising from minsinformation and disinformation.

7: Misinformation is information that is false or misleading but not intended to cause harm. Disinformation is false information deliberately created or shared to cause harm.