Editorial: Dear Benevolent Leader

OPINION: Aren't we lucky to have a Benevolent Leader like Judith Collins keeping us safe from information that those poor, naive people who would like to live in an open society, believe the public has a right to know?

Bizarrely, they think that the people who fund the Corrections Department – taxpayers – should be allowed to know what illicit items are being smuggled into prisons, and how it's being done.

As reported in yesterday's Manawatu Standard, Corrections' database doesn't hold information on what items are being smuggled or found inside prisons.

So, the department could tell us how many contraband discoveries were made at Manawatu Prison in the first half of this year – 92 – but could reveal little else.

That would have involved looking at 92 separate files, which Corrections decided would be far too much bother simply to keep the public informed about what was going on behind the walls of the prisons they pay for.

And even if it wasn't too much bother, Mrs Collins – the Corrections Minister – doesn't think the public should be allowed to know.

Our Benevolent Leader said "such information should not be released for security reasons, given the potential for copycat offending".

It's a ridiculous position, and an approach often taken by those in positions of power to withhold information from the public.

If it can be argued that there is potential harm in releasing information (in this case, copycat offending), withholding it is justified. Benevolent leaders like Mrs Collins think the public's right to know is less important than a vague risk of something bad happening if they're told.

It's the same fuzzy thinking the judiciary often employs in suppressing the names of people before the courts.

Even if an adverse, unintended consequence of disclosing information can be predicted with certainty, it should only override the public interest in the most extreme cases.

Simply saying "other people might copy them", as Mrs Collins has in this case, does not come close to meeting that test.

Her stance also raises questions about the veracity of the reason Corrections gave the Standard for refusing our information request.

Was it really that tracking down the data was too much work, or was the department simply serving the minister's desire to withhold it from the public?

Whatever the case, the people of New Zealand could do with a little less of Mrs Collins' benevolence, and a little more of the truth.

- © Fairfax NZ News