The Government's decision to remove state-funded charter schools and partially privatised state-owned enterprises from coverage of the Official Information Act is an alarming move, and sets a dangerous precedent. It nibbles away at our democracy and threatens to roll back our culture of openness and transparency. If these state-funded organisations are allowed to make all their decisions behind a cloak of secrecy, what other agencies will be next? And if they are able to keep their decisions secret, how will they be held to account?

Most countries in the world are expanding their rail networks. But the future of ours is looking uncertain as a series of closures shrinks it ever further. The past 12 years have seen the closure of passenger rail services to Rotorua, Tauranga, Napier, Dunedin and Invercargill, as well as the recent mothballing of the Stratford to Okahukura and Napier to Gisborne lines, the closure of Hillside rail workshops and the sacking of 181 staff.

Fallout from melamine debacle should have motivated Fonterra to deal with DCD scare quickly and openly. It's always interesting to see how corporations and governments respond to a food safety crisis. There's invariably a temptation to cover up, procrastinate, deny or downplay a food safety risk because of its potential to scare off consumers and international trading partners. This is especially the case when the food safety scare involves New Zealand milk, our major export commodity which earns us around $11 billion a year.