Heads should roll at Auckland Council for LGOIMA gaming

19 March 2018

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance says the Mayor must act following today’s reports by Radio NZ’s Todd Niall that Auckland Council officials have been caught out in internal emails deliberately gaming official information laws to withhold information during an election campaign.

“The public’s right to information should not be contingent on political convenience,” says Jo Holmes, the Alliance’s spokesperson. “Here an official has been caught out breaking the law because it would not be ‘useful’ to release a controversial report during an election campaign. That is disgraceful, and illegal.”

“Auckland Council is using the Ombudsman’s complaints process as a de facto extension of their deadline for releasing information. Apparently, Council was perfectly happy to get a nudge from the Ombudsman if it bought them time. In other words, they had no fear of reprisal for gaming the law.”

“This is a real test of Mayor Goff’s character and integrity. Will he accept this sort of illegal behaviour occuring under his watch? Or will he show some ethics and sack these officials?”

ENDS

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