Auckland Council assessing Rodney Local Board member Geoff Upson’s speed camera remarks

Auckland Council is assessing whether comments made by Rodney Local Board member Geoff Upson about speeding violate the code of conduct for elected members.

Three complaints were received by the council alleging Upson’s comments may have breached the Auckland Council elected members’ code of conduct.

Head of governance programmes and policies, Oliver Roberts, said the code requires, among other things, elected members to “uphold the law, and promote and support high standards of conduct by leadership and example”.

Upson defended his comments as he suspects two of the three complainants have personal vendettas against him.

“They’re people that have a personal dislike of me... I mean, put it this way, if I had broken the law, the police would have called me.”

The complaints against Upson are in a preliminary assessment phase to determine whether a full investigation is needed.

Rodney Local Board member Geoff Upson has defended comments he made, which are being probed by Auckland Council. Photo / Geoff Upson Road Safety Campaigner

It comes as he told the Herald this month that he regularly drove over the speed limit.

“I speed myself. I’ve certainly had a lot of speeding tickets to back that claim up.

“Am I saying, ‘Do it?’ I’m saying, ‘Well, we all want to do it, we all need to do it, because driving 80 or 60 is ridiculous’,” he said.

Upson is an advocate for roads that had speed limits lowered in 2020 returning to their prior restrictions.

The comment came when asked if social media posts he made about two vandalised speeding cameras were promoting vandalism and speeding.

Upson labelled them “revenue cameras” in the videos posted to Facebook.

In one post about a vandalised camera in Matakana, he said the cameras do not deter dangerous driving and have only been placed on roads where “the speed limit has been reduced inappropriately”.

In another post about a camera chopped down, and later replaced, on the Coatesville Riverhead Highway, he said the act emphasised the local community’s dissatisfaction with the speed limit, which was lowered from 100km/h to 60km/h.

“Coatesville Riverhead Highway used to be 100, then it was 80, now it’s 60 and community member, good Samaritan, has removed the revenue-collecting camera.

“So anyway, good news, it’s safe for you to drive 61km/h on your way to work tomorrow.”

A speed camera on the Coatesville Riverhead Highway was cut down. Photo / Geoff Upson Road Safety Campaigner

Under the council’s code of conduct, all complaints are subject to a preliminary assessment to determine whether they fall within the scope of a material breach, Roberts said.

If it is found to raise a potential breach, the complaint will be referred for a full investigation.

“At this stage, the complaints against member Upson are at the preliminary assessment phase. No determination has been made,” said Roberts.

There is no prescribed statutory timeframe for completing the preliminary assessment.

Upson told the Herald he believed his comments, although controversial, were not in violation of the code.

As an elected member, the only way Upson could be fired was if he was voted out, he said.

“I can upset the council staff as much as I want, obviously that’s going to make my life difficult dealing with them because I have to deal with them every day.

“I’m elected because the people agreed that there’s a problem and they want me to try to fix it. And sometimes that means that I clash with the council staff, that sometimes means I upset the odd person in the community.”

Speed limits, speed bumps, cameras and potholes are all controversial topics that draw strong opinions on both sides, he said.