Tomorrow, my members’ bill, the Local Government (Council Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill will have its first reading.
The bill is straightforward. It will remove the current exclusion of publicly owned ports from access to information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act and Official Information Act requests.
Every port in New Zealand is wholly or majority owned by Councils, yet the ratepayers who own them have no right to request information about how they are run.
The issue came up again last week when Auckland Councillors were denied information about the amount of public money spent on consultants, advertising, public relations and legal actions during the Ports of Auckland dispute.
But it’s not only about the Ports of Auckland. It’s about every port in New Zealand. Hundreds of millions of dollars of public money is tied up in local authority owned port companies, but the public can’t even ask questions.
The principle of the Official Information Act is that the public own the information about publicly owned entities and therefore should be able to access that information, subject of course to the legislation.
Who can argue with that principle?
We will see tomorrow.
You need to fix the link; people outside parliament can’t see ourhouse.
I am interested to see how the Ports strike has affected the Ports Accounts, interesting to note some compamies estimated the Ports dispute has cost them up tp $250,000.00
These guys need to be held accountable to the Ratepayers who are paying their exorbidant salaries.
Otherwise it is fraudulent and negligent activity.
The problem with Government & Local Government is the total distrust of people within these organisations.
The public keep getting fed misinformation by the media which is designed to create confusion.
Governments both locally & nationally need to be acting in the best interests of the country and the people of the country.
It appears to me this current Government has it’s own agenda and is going to drive it through whether right or wrong.
Logic does not come into the equation.
John Key, John Banks and Peter Dunne are leading this country up the Garden Path.
Good on you Darien. I’m glad your bill has been drawn and I hope it goes through to the next reading.
This bill sounds like it may one day, bite the ass of she who released it. C’mon Darien think about it. Transparency is not your friend if you tell lies.
@Allyson : be careful. We don’t tolerate trolls on this blog.
Hi Darien. Just in case things turn pear shaped, it may pay to balance things up by ensuring your tradeunions are also subjected in some way to public scrutiny. Apart from the gallant efforts of a few commenters the truth can be very hard to find during industrial dispute. Personally, I really wanted to find out what the working terms and conditions were for the port workers. I never did find out, and I do not think your bill amendment would help clarify that.
Hi Allyson : Unions don’t spend ratepayers money – they spend members’ fees and they are accountable to them. If you are serious, I am sure the Ports workers would be happy to answer your questions. I could put you in touch if you want. If you’re not, don’t worry, you have the third form blog brigade to give you misinformation ):
Darien. You do appereciate that You are arguing against transparency for publicly owned ports, or in other words you do not really want transparency.
Just do something to ensure we get all the info. not just the info. you want us to get.
good luck or whatever the parliamentary equivalent is. Sounds fantastic. Would be good to see Incorporated Societies get the same treatment if they have a strong public interest component.
I hear it didn’t go down so well. Any links to the debate/nuggets from Hansard, etc.?
Ah nm, I see they dusted off Frankenstein to front the National “argument” against this bill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgX78wrcZ6k
It is too cringe-inducing to get through, but one takes from the simplistic spin that National want to continue the assault on the unionised wharfie workforce.
So transparent it makes me want to wretch.
Also, is that Nikki Kaye in the colourful stripey number that arrives around 5’00? Not to spread black rumour, but I seriously think National need to implement drug testing for their members as a matter of urgency. The body language (complete with nose wiping) is really that of someone who has ducked out to the bathroom for a couple of cheeky lines.
No that’s their Junior Whip Louise Upston. There’s always weird behaviour from the National benches after the dinner hour. And I don’t just mean Nick Smith! Funny thing is the vote is yet to be taken because of the filibustering by Winston to avoid getting onto his bill. Vote will be in three weeks.
“There’s always weird behaviour from the National benches after the dinner hour. And I don’t just mean Nick Smith!”
Darien, when you get fed up politics, there’s a career in comedy waiting for you