25 Oct 2023

Councils criticised for closed-door meetings

From Morning Report, 7:37 am on 25 October 2023

The Chief Ombudsman says some local councils have been holding closed-door meetings to protect councillors from reasonable scrutiny.

Judge Peter Boshier has reported back on his review of eight councils, concluding that too many have been closing all workshops to the public.

He says some also changed the names of meetings to dodge official information obligations.

Local Government New Zealand president Sam Broughton spoke to Corin Dann.