“Surely a bit of transparency would help the minister. But instead, she’s hidden documents, claimed not to know where they came from, [and] misrepresented them in Parliament. That’s not the behaviour of a minister who has got nothing to hide.”

Sounds like a certain party I know of in my home country.

Ministers have to cite specific grounds for withholding information. Costello said redactions were made under a clause of the OIA which protects the “confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials”.

Costello’s office did not address questions from RNZ about how she could use this clause if she did not know who wrote the document.

Right wingers are dishonest everywhere. It’s part of the schtick.