The Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand — A Voluntary Cross-Government Commitment on Algorithmic Transparency

On 28–29 July 2020, New Zealand's Government Statistician at Stats NZ, under Minister for Statistics James Shaw, launched the Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand: a voluntary cross-agency commitment covering six areas — assessing risk with a probability/impact matrix, being transparent about how algorithms inform decisions, embedding Māori and Treaty of Waitangi perspectives, undergoing regular peer review, engaging affected communities, and providing a channel to challenge algorithm-based decisions. Twenty-one agencies signed at launch, including the ministries of Justice, Education, and Social Development, Inland Revenue, and Land Information New Zealand.

An independent one-year review conducted by actuarial consultancy Taylor Fry, published in December 2021, interviewed signatories, non-signatories, and subject-matter experts. It found the charter had grown to 27 signatories — more than half of all New Zealand government agencies — with support described as 'almost universal,' and no agency reporting that the charter had stifled its use of algorithms.

The same review found agencies had made only partial progress against some of the six commitments — particularly public-facing transparency and periodic reporting — and recommended better cross-agency information-sharing to close those gaps, feeding into New Zealand's subsequent Open Government Partnership commitments on algorithm transparency.

The Charter is voluntary and carries no enforcement mechanism: each agency decides what to publish and how thoroughly to apply the risk matrix, so the gains documented so far are attitudinal and procedural — signatory growth, self-reported stocktakes, and expressed support — rather than measured changes in the algorithmic decisions themselves.

Read the full analysis: https://www.govtechreview.com.au/content/gov-digital/article/new-zealand-agencies-commit-to-algorithm-charter-1561878176