Power of mayor’s office curbed
Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s office has been stripped of its ability to influence the release of information.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier found the council acted unreasonably, and in some respects unlawfully, in withholding for five months a report sought by Radio NZ.
The report, commissioned by Mayor Phil Goff, examined the merits of the imported vehicle trade continuing through the city’s port. Goff opposed the trade continuing to occupy waterfront wharves but the NZIER report found losing the business could cost the city’s economy $1 billion.
At the time this reporter, then working for Radio NZ, requested the report, the future of Auckland’s port and the vehicle trade had become an issue in the general election campaign.
The council’s governance director said three changes had already been made as a result of the Ombudsman’s investigation, one affecting the mayor’s office where senior staff were involved.
‘‘They will still have an opportunity to comment on, and see decisions that are made, but they previously had the ability to take part in the process,’’ said Phil Wilson. ‘‘There is nothing to suggest the mayor or his principal political adviser [Nirupa George] acted improperly in this case,’’ said Boshier in his 22-page finding. ‘‘However, there was an undesirable lack of clarity concerning their role in the process.’’
The investigation followed a complaint after council correspondence suggested the report’s delay may have had political grounds. ‘‘I have concerns that it might [not] be useful if this or the final document is in the public domain during an election campaign,’’ wrote the chief executive of council agency ACIL John Crawford in one email last September. ‘‘Assuming we will have to release it at some stage, it might be better to plan for a managed release,’’ one executive wrote to two mayoral staff and other managers.
Requests for information from local bodies are covered by the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, (LGOIMA) which sets timelines for responses, and requires material to be released except on specified grounds.
Boshier said the deficiencies he found were ‘‘worrying’’.
Wilson said that in addition to limiting the role of the mayor or his staff, the hand of the council’s specialist LGOIMA team would be strengthened and it would hold the information being considered for release, which had not happened in the NZIER report case. Where the team and relevant managers disagreed on whether to release information, that decision would be elevated to the council’s chief executive, or to the governance director.
The ombudsman in May upheld a further complaint from this reporter, finding the sixmonth withholding of a report on the feasibility of a downtown stadium was wrong.