Thursday 25 March 2009

C&R Shuts Public Out

At Auckland City Council’s Finance & Strategy Committee yesterday, there was heated debate over the public’s right to hear discussion on Watercare’s quarterly report after activist Penny Bright attended the meeting asking for it to be dealt with in public.

A move by Councillor Cathy Casey to have the non-commercial parts of the Watercare report separated out from the confidential parts and discuss it in public was lost by four votes to two with Citizens and Ratepayers (C&R) councillors all voting against:

FOR: Councillors Casey and Northey

AGAINST: Councillors Armstrong, Bhatnagar, Goldsmith and Donnelly

Councillor Casey said, “John Banks and this C&R council promised ‘openness and accountability’.  How is it being open and accountable to hold important discussions about water pricing behind closed doors?  Why can't we hold our ‘free and frank’ discussions with people like Penny Bright present?  What are they frightened of?”

Councillor Richard Northey said, “I am really concerned that the C&R councillors are failing to meet their obligations under local government law.  The law requires important Council discussions to be held in public unless they are about personal privacy or commercial sensitivity.  Watercare is a public body which is a monopoly provider of a public service – clean water.  C&R are defying their legal requirements by not separating out a few commercial tendering issues and then discussing all the issues of water quality, conservation and price in the full public gaze”

Councillor Leila Boyle said, “Bizarrely, C&R used cost of officer time as a reason for not separating the commercially sensitive information from the information appropriate for the public realm!  However, Metrowater has made significant changes to their reports and now provide us with a large public quarterly report and no longer submit a report for the confidential agenda at all.  Surely, if Metrowater can do it, so can Watercare and Council?  It’s shocking that C&R won’t ask Watercare to do the same.

“We owe it to the people of Auckland to make sure council controlled organisations put as much information as possible out into the public domain.  C&R are not taking this obligation seriously – they campaigned on openness and accountability but they are not keeping their promises!” Councillor Boyle concluded.

ENDS

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