Council gagging order tossed out
Councillors reject attempt by CCOs to gag them
An attempt to gag Auckland councillors from talking to the media about council controlled organisations (CCOS) has been thrown out.
Councillors were asked to approve a governance manual for substantive CCOs, which has a clause demanding councillors and local boards members tell the council controlled organisations if they are approached by the media to comment on a CCO-related matter.
It came under the No Surprises section of the manual and the fight back was led by councillor Cameron Brewer, who argued at the CCO governance and monitoring committee meeting the strong directive is “an outrageous gagging order on electoral representatives.”
“The public don’t want us gagged; in fact quite the opposite. They increasingly want us to have greater control over CCOs and be able to freely express any concerns or issues surrounding these largely ratepayer-funded entities, which represent most of the council’s business.”
Mr Brewer put an amendment that successfully resulted in the word “will” being changed to “may” in the clause.
“It’s great that Auckland councillors and local board members will not be answerable to the CCOs when it comes to speaking to the media,” Mr Brewer says.
“We’re not answerable to the CCOs and nor should we be. They’re answerable and accountable to us.
“This failed directive was just another attempt by non-elected officials to grab more power from elected representatives. This was a small but important win for democracy in Auckland,” he says.
Sally Lindsay
Tue, 04 Aug 2015
Tue, 04 Aug 2015
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