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Auckland Council’s financial discussions went behind closed doors on November 10, prompting unease from several councillors. At the Extraordinary Governing Body meeting, Cr Mike Lee said he was uncomfortable with council’s financial matters being dealt with in secret.
“We are reporting to the people of Auckland who are going to foot the bill in the end,” Lee said. “It is important that we use plain language. If you are proposing asset sales, well call them that rather than ‘recycling’.”
He said Council needed to have good reasons to go into a confidential session and those reasons were set out in the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
“The declarations we all made the other night are still ringing in my ear about that particular piece of legislation. Going into workshops routinely is really bypassing that Act.”
Hibiscus Councillor John Watson asked Council staff for options beyond those mentioned in the meeting report, but was told those options would be discussed in the confidential workshop.
“There are probably members of the public who would be interested in what our response is going to be,” Watson said. “Today might have been an opportunity to signal that in the open meeting, hence the question.”
Cr Lotu Fuli had a different tack on the confidential workshop, instead trying to move for the open discussion to close before other councillors could ask their questions.
“I am eager to get to the workshop because I know that we have got a lot of mahi ahead of us, lots of questions, lots of options and advice that we will get from our staff and so, Your Worship, I would like to move that the motion be put so that we can get to that important mahi,” Fuli said.
Fuli’s motion was ruled out of order by the governance advisor.
Chief executive Jim Stabback responded to concerns around confidentiality.
“What we intend to do in the workshop is simply to create an environment where officers can provide free, frank and open advice to elected members,” Stabback said.
“That is the purpose of the workshop. It is not intended to bypass what ultimately needs to be a process of public consultation.”
After the meeting, Cr Wayne Walker said there was no reason why the workshop had to be held behind closed doors.
