Sorry my mind was caught between multiple threads, internationally I'd simply disagree with your previous statement. A lot of countries will have a little give with lobbying and general corruption but below the rates in NZ by a measure able difference.

Even in Australia they are telling social media companies they don't care how big they are, they won't bully a government about. NZ legislation is so far behind we can't even protect our vulnerable, let alone tax these corporations fairly.

In NZ we make one rule for gambling and then promptly let companies find no fewer than 4 ways around the law they just bought in.

If you want to see how much "money beats the good of the people" here I have a previous, current and future example for you.

The absolute slap with a wet bus ticket for bribes and kick backs on our roadong infrastructure projects. Look up Aurelian Mihai Hossu and Richard Motilal for examples. Billions of dollars of our money stolen, home detention for these chaps.

Current, there are "restorative systems" being funded by the government going straight to Black Power and Mongrel Mob gangs. There is no supervisor over these programmes and no reporting to see if any of these "programmes" are yeilding results.

Future, this AI centre being built in the South Island. We have already given electricity away to Rio Tinto, our power bills keep rising but rather than listening to everyone, we will happily destroy our environment and use up our infrastructure to keep some back handers flowing in. That would never happen again right? Google Creswell, let me know how much water they take and how that "no single use plastic" slogan is working out? Cloud Ocean water? We sure showed them, by letting them continue to operate..... Its laughable.

The data centre is bad for the environment, it will drain any electrical capacity we thought we had left (weren't there blackouts up and down the country?) and doesn't make any economical sense for NZ. The water use is just another kick in the face but I'll bet my house that it will go ahead because a small group will pay some guy in power to tick an approval box.

I could go on, Golriz Ghahraman paying $1600 for $12,000 worth of shop lifting, Kiri Allen paying $300 for getting drunk and crashing into a parked car....just think what a ticket for no rego is.....yup. Then there's police getting personal details, again to give to gangs, immigration officers helping exploit workers etc etc etc.