Mayor all fired up over mining claims

Mayor Wayne Brown is strongly defending himself against criticism which resulted in the Far North District Council not supporting his planned trip to a mining conference in Canada.

He wants the council to take another look at its decision and if it comes up with any month for his trip he will donate it to scholarships for young people to gain the skills to gain employment from the investment bonanza that mining will bring to the Far North

In a statement issued yesterday, Mr Brown said councillors receiving their meeting notes via ipads linked to the FNDC website missed out on receiving information about his attendance at the Canada talks being important for Northland mineral exploration.

"Secondly, according to newspaper reports (but not showing in the minutes) the deputy mayor introduced the issue of business cards and email addresses unbeknown to me and, again according to newspaper reports, this affected the debate," the mayor said.

"It was alleged my business card was produced for this trip, that it did not meet council policy on business cards and that I had used my mayoral position to meet Chinese business people and investors."

Mr Brown said it was totally without any fairness or justice that these matters were not raised with him and he was not given a chance to respond to the potentially damaging allegations before a council decision was made.

The business card in question had been used for months and the council had no policy covering business cards and email addresses for elected officials.

"I have discovered that emails sent to the address mayor@fndc.govt.nz that senders expect goes to the Mayor in fact do not, but go to my PA plus a number of other staff without my knowledge or approval.This behaviour does not meet council policy or ethics and must cease," Mr Brown said.

"With regard to the two Chinese gentlemen that I have had occasional business dealings with, they were introduced to me by Dr Don Brash in Auckland and not through my Mayoral position, so any inference that my Mayoral position was being used for my own advantage is totally unfounded."

Mr Brown said he had declared many times that he had a long-term interest in mining in the Far North as an engineering adviser to NZ China Clays at Matauri Bay.

"I have recently received an invitation to attend a function in Toronto to highlight mineral exploration opportunities in New Zealand. I will now not be able to attend as a representative of the Far North District, so will have to attend as an individual partly-funded by Northland Inc. Surely this is not in the interests of our district?

"I would like to have the decision revisited to receive at least council's blessing and cover as a representative of FNDC, if not a contribution to costs."

The mayor said that, given the unfounded concerns of a small group of council critics to any contribution to his costs, he would not accept a contribution offer but will donate it to scholarships for young people to gain the skills to gain employment from the investment bonanza that mining would bring to the Far North.