Distributing the Budget news

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 20

Distributing the Budget news

The Government and its officers are clearly alive to the importance of keeping the Budget confidential before it is read to Parliament. No-one can question the importance of maintaining the security of information that, in the wrong hands, can enable some people to take advantage over others. The Budget is not the only Government document that must be handled with care. Many important financial or regulatory decisions by the Government must be delivered with perfect timing. Otherwise, the purposes of the decisions can be undermined, or some people — by privilege or accident — can profit unfairly at the expense of others or of the State. This has become all the more significant because communications systems in the financial world are now so fast, so intertwined, and continuous, that almost any financial information can be used any time, day or night. This applies particularly to trading in international currencies, and in company shares that are traded on overseas stock exchanges. Hardly less important is the ability to make special commercial deals that would evade forthcoming legislation if interested parties have information in advance.

When the distribution of Budget information went askew earlier this month,

the whole system clearly had to be overhauled. At the same time, the Government and those who administer the distribution of information have a duty to ensure that the Budget and other information is as readily and as equally available as is practicable. This is for exactly the same reason as it is necessary to maintain security in the first place. Thousands of copies of the Budget are dispatched in advance to Government Bookshop branches round the country. There they may be on sale as soon as the Minister of Finance has finished reading his speech. The next day the copies are, or should be, freely available. Just as secret information should be equally denied, it should be equally available when it is no longer secret. To achieve this end, the Government cannot neatly declare that copies of the document shall not leave the office of the Government Printer in Wellington until the speech is read. The documents have to be placed strategically, but securely, in towns and cities far afield. Provided that the channels of delivery are kept narrow, the Government should have no great difficulty in managing to achieve the two objects: security and even-handedness. A system has worked perfectly well for decades and it should not fail now.