CCO transparency questioned

Lead councillor for Auckland Council’s property arm, Eke Panuku, is calling for the organisation to be transparent, voicing his concerns that meetings are leaving the public in the dark. 

At the Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Oversight and Delivery committee on May 11, Cr Chris Darby said clashes with council business meant he had not been able to attend a single meeting for Eke Panuku (or Ports of Auckland). 

The role of a lead councillor is to sit on the board meetings of CCOs and provide feedback to the committee with updates.

Cr Darby’s inability to attend meant that he found the transparency of Eke Panuku to be lacking. 

“I have written formally to the Eke Panuku chair requesting greater transparency regarding the board reports, and moving as much of the board material as possible to open record,” Cr Darby said. 

He said the board meetings need to be publicly advertised and electronically available. 

CCO Governance & External Partnerships manager, Alastair Cameron, told the meeting it was an enduring expectation that CCOs be transparent. 

“If what the CCOs are doing in practice does not meet those expectations we will have the opportunity to have the discussion directly with board chairs when they attend this committee,” Cameron said. 

Committee chair, Cr Wayne Walker, said there is an expectation that CCOs should be transparent.

“A number of them are not at all transparent; most of the business is behind closed doors even while significant amounts could be public,” Cr Walker said. 

CCOs have varying levels of accessibility to the public. Watercare allows for online attendance by request and gives a guide online for attending board meetings in person. 

Auckland Transport’s board meetings have previously been recorded and put online, however none have been uploaded this year. 

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited allows for public attendance of board meetings by registration but has no online recordings of the meetings. 

Eke Panuku, however, gives no information about how the public can attend its meetings and they are not available online.