Benedict Ong has had his movements restricted at Dunedin City Council's Civic Centre. Photos / Supplied
A Dunedin City councillor says a temporary restriction on his access to the Civic Centre is retaliatory, while the council’s chief executive says it is a standard workplace health and safety response.
The dispute is the latest in a series of controversies involving the first-term councillor Benedict Ong, who returned to Dunedin shortly before the last local body elections and won a seat after a high-profile grassroots campaign centred on economic development and debt reform.
In a Facebook post this week, Ong said a “Health and Safety Assessment” had been ordered against him in response to his efforts to advance what he described as innovative debt financing proposals aimed at freezing future rates rises.
Asked whether the council had formally notified him of a workplace process, Ong said: “The only notification is from the complainant of the ongoing Code of Conduct complaint who is also actioner of the Health and Safety assessment against me and of false and slanderous allegations against me in this assessment action, being our council CEO Sandy Graham.”
He said he believed the process was “a reciprocal process specifically from our council CEO Sandy Graham, for my steadfastly seeking to serve and deliver my economic initiatives and community services urgently for our community, based on the dedicated values and principles I staunchly stand for to deliver for our great City of Dunedin in our great country of New Zealand”.
Correspondence provided to the Herald shows chief executive Sandy Graham wrote to Ong on Monday advising she had “temporarily changed your access arrangements to the Civic Centre until I have been able to conduct a health and safety assessment”.
“The reason for this is two-fold,” she wrote.
“A concern has been raised with me about instances of you floor walking/accosting staff in staff areas where councillors had specifically been advised this was not appropriate. Further, I am now in receipt of the preliminary assessment from the investigator into the conduct concerns I raised with her. Her preliminary findings are such that I need to put temporary measures in place to ensure a safe work space for staff.”
Under the temporary arrangements, Ong retains access to the Councillor Lounge and ground floor of the Civic Centre.
Access to other levels is by appointment and subject to escort.
In a statement, Graham said she rejected any suggestion of retaliation.
“The claims made by councillor Ong are not correct. The councillor’s access to the Civic Centre has temporarily changed while the chief executive undertakes a health and safety assessment following concerns which have been raised,” she said.
“The Code of Conduct includes a requirement for councillors to observe any protocols put in place by the chief executive, but the chief executive also has additional legal obligations to ensure workplace health and safety.”
She said the measures were temporary and would remain in place while the assessment was carried out and “until such time as the separate but parallel Code of Conduct investigation is complete”.
Ong has been pursuing two Notices of Motion, including one relating to “innovative debt financing”.
In an earlier email, Graham advised the motions related to 10-year plan matters and would need to be considered as part of that statutory process.
“This NoM cuts across a range of existing arrangements that are all considered or being prepared for the 10-year plan,” she wrote, adding that the matters could be considered once the 10-year plan timetable was finalised.
Ong said he did not accept the reasons given for delaying the motion.
“I do not consider there are any grounds whatsoever for the notice of motion to not have been tabled at the last council meeting as I requested,” he said.
He confirmed he had requested “Internal Debt & Treasury Working Material” in order to “share my expertise to council executives and staff to innovatively structure our council entities’ debt to freeze future rate rises.”
He said he would now seek the material under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
Mayor Sophie Barker declined to comment on the specifics of the Code of Conduct investigation.
“It’s being managed through standard mechanisms,” she said.
Asked whether it was appropriate for a councillor to request internal working treasury material directly from staff, she said: “It needs things need to go through formal channels. There are processes around that sort of stuff.”
She said it could be “challenging when you have new councillors for them to understand what the governance role is”, noting councillors received training on the distinction between governance and operational roles.
The current dispute follows several recent controversies involving Ong.
Earlier this month, the chief executive lodged a Code of Conduct complaint relating to comments made by Ong about a staff member.
An independent investigator has been appointed.
Ong has previously said he does not believe there are grounds for the complaint.
Separately, a complaint lodged by Ong against another councillor was dismissed following an independent assessment.
Ong, 42, was elected after returning to Dunedin shortly before the last local body elections, running a campaign focused on economic development and rates restraint.
His online posts, including references to a “secret recipe for no rate rises” and drew both support and criticism.
“I am very proud to be able to come back to my hometown. I believe I have a lot of things to contribute to our community,” he previously told the Herald.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.