Councillor still unhappy despite ombudsman clearing Auckland Council over stadium report handling

Monday, 19 November 2018

Councillor Cathy Casey and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff at a governing body meeting of Auckland Council in December where the Mayor was accused of turning Council into an 'A' team' and a 'B' team.

A councillor has launched a fresh attack against Auckland Council's 'secretive' culture, despite an investigation clearing the organisation of wrongdoing over its handling of reports into the region's proposed downtown stadium.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier on Monday backed an Auckland Council decision to restrict councillors' access to the controversial report.

Two councillors had objected to not being allowed to obtain and keep hard copies of a report commissioned by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff last year, which cost nearly a million dollars.

An artist's impression of the Auckland waterfront stadium first proposed in 2006.

The councillors, Cathy Casey and John Watson complained after initially being allowed to view it only in the mayor's office, and then to have a copy but not indefinitely.

**READ MORE:

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff was criticised for placing conditions on councillors viewing the report.

* Goff v the 'B' Team: Investigations, bullying and distrust at Auckland Council

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* Auckland councillors 'appalled' by mayor's handling of stadium report

* Auckland CBD stadium could be on the cards again**

But Boshier said that approach 'allowed councillors to be kept informed, while also recognising the particular commercial sensitivities of the information'.

01122016 Newsphoto. AUCKLAND COUNCIL. Auckland Council Albany ward councillor John Watson. 01-N-walkerE

Watson told Stuff Boshier's opinion was 'disappointing, though in some respects predictable'.

'It doesn't really take account of the fact that this report cost nearly $1 million, it was kept secret for over a year, that it was only discovered when a LGOIMA (Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act) request was followed through and a complaint made to the ombudsman by the media, or else councillors and the public wouldn't know,' he said.

'It doesn't deal with the substantive secrecy and basically undemocratic way in which the whole business was conducted. So that's disappointing he hasn't gone there, but I can understand why.'

The report, by consultants PWC, was already controversial. The ombudsman had previously ruled the council was wrong in refusing to release it to the media.

The council had withheld the report for six months, arguing that it was only in draft form.

Even now, possible locations have not been released, although councillor Chris Darby told Stuff the report favoured Quay Park as the stadium location.

Watson said at the time what he saw as a lack of trust from the mayor was 'disappointing' and he was 'appalled' at how the situation was handled.

On Monday, he said the ombudsman's findings did not deal with the 'culture of withholding information that exists within the Auckland Council'.

'So we now have a fairly regular basis on which councillors have to complain to the ombudsman because information is being withheld from them,' Watson said.

'This finding is hardly going to help that culture that exists and that is very concerning.'

Despite Watson's general secrecy concerns, Boshier said the conditions on the stadium report 'seemed pretty straightforward to me'.

'A time limit on the councillors' access was not introduced, and councillors could request and view the information at their desks as often as they wanted.'

The PWC report was called a pre-feasibility study on the general concept of building a new stadium in the downtown area.

It found the idea was feasible, but that a more detailed study was needed.

When it was released in redacted form in May 2017, some councillors were angry not only at the cost, but that they didn't know of its existence.

The report and sites it assessed pre-date the current debate over a private proposal for a waterfront stadium on Bledisloe Wharf.

Watson said it was 'rather ironic' that the report was released 'very grudgingly, kind of step-by-painful-step' yet its contents had never been discussed.

'It hasn't been before any committee of council, it hasn't been debated, we've had this wildfire of the stadium of the waterfront raging in the public, yet this report has not been put on a table and discussed or debated,' he said.

'You have to really wonder where's the $1m gone, what use was it, and why all the secrecy?'

Goff said he was pleased the ombudsman had cleared Auckland Council of wrongdoing.

'The ombudsman has upheld that the access granted to councillors to the full report was sufficient for councillors to be able to do their job,' he said in a statement.

'The ombudsman's report now brings this matter to a close and all of us can continue to focus on those things that matter most to the people of Auckland.'