Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Expert says Napier council can't keep all details of its internal review from the public

By Laura Wiltshire
Hawkes Bay Today·
22 Nov, 2019 02:22 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

The review was called after emails showed council staff trawled through the social media pages of councillors who disagreed with the new aquatic centre. Photo / File

The review was called after emails showed council staff trawled through the social media pages of councillors who disagreed with the new aquatic centre. Photo / File

A local government expert says Napier City Council has limited legal grounds to withhold the entire review into its Facebook trawl of four "renegade" councillors on social media.

The council has told Hawke's Bay Today the review is now complete and the report has been given to councillors.

A council spokesperson said it would decide whether to release the report and cost of the review next week.

Associate Professor at Victoria University faculty of law, Dean Knight, said he would be surprised if there are grounds for withholding the entire report and cost of the review, although there may be grounds to redact parts of it for privacy, and to allow councillors to see it first.

He said the same goes for the cost of the review.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There is a strong public interest in knowing how the council has been exposed on this, and commercial confidentiality only goes so far, and I suppose the privacy of the person tendering the things.

"There are ways again that the LGOIMA [Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act] allows that to be managed."

He said grounds such as privacy are never absolute reasons for withholding information, and the LGOIMA allows for a nuanced approach to make sure public interest is served.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said he, personally, is interested in seeing the contents of the report.

"I just want to see the damn report."

Discover more

Hastings students ask Grant Robertson the hard hitting questions in special class call

26 Nov 09:54 PM

A council spokesperson said the review, undertaken by Wellington lawyer Peter Chemis, had been completed and was released to councillors on Wednesday, and a decision will be made whether to release the report and cost after councillors had an opportunity to discuss it.

READ MORE:
• Napier City Council's councillor monitoring: Independent review of Facebook trawl coming Monday
• Wellington lawyer to lead a review into Napier City Council code of conduct saga
• Napier councillors hit out after CEO orders Facebook trawl
• Napier acting Mayor backtracks on releasing review terms of reference

In September, Hawke's Bay Today asked Napier City Council whether the cost of the review would be made public, when available, but was told the council was "not in a position to update you at the present time".

It also refused to release the terms of reference for the review when requested under the LGOIMA, citing privacy reasons.

Wellington Lawyer Peter Chemis undertook the independent, internal review. Photo / File
Wellington Lawyer Peter Chemis undertook the independent, internal review. Photo / File

The review was called after emails, released under LGOIMA, showed council CEO Wayne Jack ordered his staff to go through the Facebook pages of four councillors who were all vocal opponents of a planned $41.3 million pool at Prebensen Drive.

One of the emails described the four councillors as renegades, including new Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Napier City Council's code of conduct was also thrust into view during the fallout over the Facebook trawl - a Massey University Study in 2014 found it was one of the few councils in New Zealand which prevented councillors from voicing negative opinions.

The code of conduct is currently being reviewed, as happens at the start of every triennium, but the council is not expected to approved it until the last meeting of the year, at the earliest.

In the meantime, the current code of conduct is in force.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM

'We are in a position where we will have to find alternatives.'

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP