Council may revisit new media rules
Invercargill City Council officials say they are open to revisiting their controversial new media protocol.
The council this week adopted a media protocol that asks ‘‘elected members to focus on issues and activities when speaking to media rather than the actions or decisions of other elected members’’.
The protocol prompted some backlash from mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt and deputy mayor Nobby Clark, while councillor Lindsay Abbott also felt it would sanitise his views.
Former Wellington mayor Justin Lester also spoke out on the matter, suggesting the Invercargill council was messing with democracy by taking its media protocol a step too far.
Council external appointee and governance group chairman Jeff Grant, councillor Rebecca Amundsen, and council chief executive Clare Hadley fronted media yesterday.
They stressed that the introduction of the media protocol was not a case of muzzling elected members.
They did not agree that the protocol put further restrictions on elected members’ ability to speak openly in the public.
Grant did acknowledge there were others who felt the wording of the protocol inhibited what elected members could say in the future.
He was open to the protocol being revisited if councillors were happy to do so. ‘‘What happens now is up to the council to decide,’’ Grant said.
He said there was an opportunity to amend the protocol at this week’s council meeting, but that opportunity was not taken. ‘‘But it doesn’t mean we can’t look to amend the protocols to get to a stage where we all agree.’’
When approached after the meeting with media, Clark said he welcomed the prospect of revisiting the matter.
He said it showed maturity that there would be a willingness to listen to the community and revisit a decision if it was warranted.
He said he personally would not push to get the topic back on the table, suggesting it would be more appropriate for those who initially put the protocols together to lead that.
Amundsen chairs the ‘‘developing media protocols and bringing the community along’’ working group, while councillors Nigel Skelt and Graham Lewis are also part of the group.
Amundsen has previously been critical of Shadbolt’s performance as mayor.
Stuff asked Amundsen if she would be comfortable making those same comments under the guidance of the new media protocol.
Amundsen said the situation now was that they had the Thomson report, which laid out the situation the council was in and what needed focus.
When pressed again about whether she would be comfortable making the same comments about Shadbolt under the media new protocol, Amundsen again fell back to citing the Thomson report, saying that it addressed the problems at the council.
Grant said the introduction of the media protocol stemmed from the damming independent report looking into the council’s governance, which was prepared by Richard Thomson.
‘‘The critical thing here is the way the council was operating 12 months ago is not a way they can continue to operate in the future,’’ Grant said.
Former Invercargill City councillor Geoff Piercy urged councillors to drop the media protocol.
He said the code of conduct was in place to pull anyone into line if they overstepped the mark.
Piercy spent 15 years on the council and admitted he did speak openly and honestly to the media, which had irked some of his colleagues. However, at no stage did he feel the need to change his approach, he said.
‘‘I said, ‘We are not here to cover up stuff.’ You are elected by the ratepayers, not to play patsy to somebody’s feelings,’’ Piercy said.