Council opens workshops to public

Auckland Council is set to open its workshops to the public this September in the interests of transparency. 

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of opening the workshops at the Governing Body meeting on June 27. 

Starting September 1, recordings will also be available online, following the workshops. 

The decision comes after an investigation by Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier into the workshop practices of eight councils around New Zealand. Auckland Council was not one of the eight. One of the concerns the ombudsman investigated was whether councils were making decisions behind closed doors. 

Boshier found no evidence that decision making was happening in workshops but reported that closed workshops were “counter to the principles of openness”. 

Governance support manager Andrew Pickering said the decision to open workshops was part of ongoing work to increase the transparency of council business. 

Workshops can still be closed to the public, but there are rules around what can be discussed in confidential sessions.

The Hibiscus and Bays Local Board opened its workshops to the public four years ago, following a campaign by Hibiscus Matters.