Dealings with Saudi sheep farmers, Hollywood, and Judith Collins' relationship with Chinese company Oravida are likely to have played a part in making the country look more corrupt, with New Zealand dropping down anti-corruption scales. That's what an ethics professor's saying after Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016 ranked New Zealand as the fourth least corrupt country in the world - our worst ranking since 1998. Associate Professor Tim Dare said it's because th...

The Prime Minister has decided that Sir Douglas Graham will keep his knighthood despite his recent criminal conviction. Sir Douglas was one of four Lombard Finance directors convicted of making false statements in a company prospectus. All four appealed their convictions, but were rejected by the Supreme Court last week. John Key has today announced that after a lot of thought on the matter, he has decided Sir Douglas will keep the Sir in front of his name. "I took into account the on-going f...

In 2007, John Key, then Leader of the Opposition, gave a powerful speech to the New Zealand Press Club against the Electoral Finance Bill. He declared: "Here in New Zealand we often take our democratic freedoms for granted. We think they will always be there. We have a Bill of Rights which is supposed to protect our right to freedom of expression. What on earth could go wrong?" "I have a different view. I believe what Thomas Jefferson said - that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Ther...

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