Tauranga City Council Commission Chair, Anne Tolley, has asked that a redacted section of the commission’s June quarter report to the Minister of Local Government, which has been published on the council website, be restored and made available to the community.
The redacted section relates to the city’s transition back to democratic representation at the 2022 local government elections.
“It had always been the Commission’s intent that the full report would be publicly accessible,” said Ms Tolley.
“The paragraph that was removed was information we thought the Minister should be aware of, but it’s also important that the community knows our thinking around any potential obstacle to a return to democratic representation for the city in 2022.”
She said she had only been made aware of the redaction late last week and had immediately asked that the decision-making involved be reviewed.
“I understand why the redacted section was considered sensitive, because it relates to individuals who could be identified. However, there is also the public interest to consider and from the commission’s perspective, that has to take precedence.”
The redacted content is part of the ‘summary of progress’ section of the report and is reproduced in full below:
“The commission has also been charged with facilitating the city’s transition back to democratic representation at the 2022 local government elections. This has been raised frequently in our discussions with the community and it is clearly a matter of concern to a wide range of organisations and individuals that some of the former elected members whose actions contributed to dysfunctional and ineffective governance are part of a new organisation which is actively endeavouring to undermine the commission’s role and reduce the scope of the long-term plan work programme. To date, the impact of those efforts appears to be limited, but we raise this as a matter the Minister may wish to monitor.”
