Ex-councillor ‘vindicated’ by report

A former Central South Island Fish & Game councillor and instigator of a process leading to wideranging Government review of the organisation says he feels vindicated by its findings.

The review into the body, which represents hunters and anglers, was released by the Government last week.

It came with a raft of recommendations, which included cutting the number of Fish & Game councils from 12 to six, and reducing the number of councillors in each region from 12 to eight, with four members elected by licence holders, three appointed by the Minister of Conservation and one iwi appointee.

It also criticised the organisation for its past failures to adequately handle conflicts of interest and failure to represent its stakeholders properly, accusing the organisation of being seen as an ‘‘old boys club’’.

CSI council chairman Dr

Andrew Simpson and chief executive Jay Graybill both declined to comment on the review, which, if implemented, could result in the CSI council merging with North Canterbury.

However, former CSI councillor Tom O’Connor, of St Andrews, said he felt vindicated by the recommendations of the review panel, particularly the recommendation that the New Zealand Fish and Game Council should be elected directly by licence holders rather than appointed by regional fish and game councils.

‘‘That was a major source of disharmony and political infighting,’’ he said.

O’Connor, who had previously served on the New Zealand Fish and Game Council, was an elected member of the CSI Fish and Game Council, which became embroiled in an internal dispute over local alleged conflicts of interest and personality disputes with the national body.

‘‘Some of us tried to get conflicts and governance issues dealt with in-house more than 10 years ago, but that became a very acrimonious and ugly battle of personalities,’’ O’Connor said.

‘‘Then it became clear to me and two other councillors that the CSI council of the time did not want to address those issues properly. I wrote initially to the Ombudsman who declined to intervene. I knew then that it would take ministerial intervention to rescue the organisation. I then wrote former Conservation Minister Peter Dunne in 2012 and every minister since as matters got progressively worse. There was a subsequent

‘‘Some of us tried to get conflicts and governance issues dealt with in-house more than 10 years ago...’’ Tom O’Connor (pictured left)

Former CSI Fish and Game councillor

independent audit of CSI and other councils which failed to get to the core of the matter.’’ There were other Fish & Game councils with similar problems, but O’Connor said at the time, there was neither the will nor the political mechanisms to deal with them.

O’Connor said former Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage, who ordered the review last year, and the review panel, should be commended for tackling the problem in such a comprehensive way.

‘‘It came as no surprise to me that the review panel found unresolved and poorly managed conflicts of interest were near the top of a long list of issues which needed to be addressed and should have been addressed years ago.’’

‘‘There is significant room for improvement at all levels, but I am confident, with the right people involved, the organisation will come out of this stronger and better able to do the job they are tasked with.

Fellow former CSI Fish and Game councillor Craig Batchelor said the review had been released ‘‘not before time’’. ‘‘The recommendations are long overdue and should have a positive effective on the future management of Fish & Game in NZ, although there still requires a considerable amount of thought and deliberation to reach an optimal outcome,’’ Batchelor said.

He said the recommendation to consolidate the regions will reduce complexity and administration costs.

‘‘However, a considerable amount of dead wood has accumulated over the years, which needs to be removed. Oldschool experience must be balanced with the fresh ideas and the ability to embrace and manage change that comes with fresh blood,’’ he said. ‘‘The organisation to date has clearly lacked expertise in fish and game management, so it is essential that elected councillors have expertise and experience.’’