Clearing out the silly secrecy from local government

Saturday, 28 October 2023

A district council meeting under way in Timaru. Several councils have been scrutinised by the Chief Ombudsman around their practices of holding informal gatherings to avoid the usual rules around public decision-making.

Stefan Speller is a governance board chairman, speaker and local government commentator from Palmerston North.

OPINION: Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has given councils clear directions around holding closed workshops too often. He also took issue with their invalid reasons such as allowing councillors a “safe space” to ask “silly questions”.

This comes on the back of a year long investigation of eight councils: Clutha District Council, Rangitīkei District Council, Palmerston North City Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Taupō District Council, Timaru District Council and Waimakariri District Council.

The investigation started in August 2022 after concerns councils were using workshops to avoid the transparency required by the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

One significant point was some clarity in what counts as a “meeting” or a “decision”. Meetings under the act must have an agenda, minutes, public notice and be open to the public. There are exceptions such as workshops where there may be good reason to exclude the public.

But it seems that many councils simply decided the word “meeting“ or ”workshop“ was the issue and moved on to holding closed ”hui“, ”forums”, “wānanga” and “briefings” instead.

The Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, has given councils some clear advice about trying to sidestep the open-government principles of the law governing their meetings.

Decisions also need to be clearly minuted and made public. However one councillor said of a closed meeting that there was 'some degree of straw polling' occurring.

Some councils – including Rotorua Lakes Council and Taranaki Regional Council – had been effectively closing all workshops by default. At least one council told Boshier they held “open workshops” but did not tell the public they were happening.

This was clearly not the purpose of the act which is to “enable more effective participation by the public” in decisions and “promote the accountability of local authority members”.

So why have multiple councils independently applied different methods of trying to work around public access and accountability?

One answer was that it gave a “safe space” to ask “silly questions'. I find this idea so frustrating for a few reasons.

Firstly that people we have elected to office, would consider we don't think they have areas of ignorance or need for information. Even recent ex-ministers stepping into local government will have questions that they need answers to. Effective questioning is key to governing.

Another reason is that these “silly questions” should be kept from the public. The rest of the council and public benefit from effective questions.

I have more than a decade in governance roles and I often see people brave enough to ask “silly questions”. More often that not, others will hear the answer and say, “you know, I've always wondered that. I just didn't want to ask”. I think we could do with more inquisitive councillors.

If you are making decisions based on partial information or understanding because you are too afraid of looking “silly“, it is time to step down.

Boshier hits the nail on the head in saying he does not consider “controversy, complexity, or the potential for embarrassment” to be good reasons to exclude the public.

I have worked in both public and closed board meetings. It is undoubtedly easier to discuss sensitive topics in a closed environment. But that's not the standard when working as the kaitiaki of public funds, assets and taonga.

I would vote for a councillor who asks questions, even if that includes a clanger every so often, over one who is largely silent. Every time.

I also understand that topics like Māori wards, water fluoridation and strange conspiracy theories that seem to connect themselves to councils, can be very heated. But that is when we as voters, need more public and open questions, not less.

As US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said in 1910, “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants, electric light the most efficient policeman”.