Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark censured at extraordinary council meeting

By RNZ

Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark will be censured for a second time this year after he was found to have breached the council’s Code of Conduct multiple times.

Two councillors complained after an interview where the mayor defended the previous times he had used the N-word at events, again repeating the slur as well as using homophobic slurs.

Invercargill City councillors voted to formally censure the mayor and ask him to make a sincere public verbal apology during an extraordinary meeting this afternoon.

Councillors also voted to review the outcomes of the resolutions in their October council meeting.

Last month, he was formally censured, asked to step down from public appearances and a vote to formally ask him to resign was narrowly defeated after a separate complaint for offensive behaviour at a firefighter prizegiving.

An extraordinary Invercargill City Council meeting was held this afternoon following an independent investigation finding its mayor seems willing to deliberately and provocatively use racial and homophobic slurs.

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark during an interview with comedian Guy Williams. Photo / Three

It follows Nobby Clark’s use of the N-word during a TV interview which breached the council’s Code of Conduct.

Clark was formally censured last month after a separate complaint.

The mayor refused to resign last month during a council meeting.

A motion to formally ask Clark to resign was narrowly defeated with six councillors voting against the motion and five supporting it during the extraordinary meeting.