Inside Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau’s hunt for council leak

ANALYSIS

An independent investigation launched by Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau into five councillors has found there is insufficient evidence to identify who leaked confidential information.

But lawyer Linda Clark’s draft report said they breached the council’s code of conduct, the Herald has learned.

The probe was launched after Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon complained her colleagues leaked commercially sensitive information about a deal to buy the land underneath the shut-up Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place.

Councillors Nicola Young, Tony Randle, Ray Chung, Diane Calvert and Iona Pannett were found to have breached the code by speaking to the media after information about the deal had been leaked.

The resulting draft recommendations are hardly the public telling off Whanau may have hoped for in a bid to draw a line under bubbling tensions.

Lawyer Linda Clark was called in to undertake the code of conduct investigation. Photo / Michael Craig

Clark recommended a copy of the council’s code of conduct be provided to all councillors for review, training on when it is appropriate to withhold information from the public, and a private workshop to discuss the complaint and air grievances.

She did not think the matter should be referred to the council.

This is quite a different situation to a code of conduct complaint against former Mayor Andy Foster after he shared potentially defamatory and previously discredited information before a controversial Shelly Bay vote.

An investigation found Foster’s behaviour breached the code. It was recommended Foster privately apologise and a letter be written to formally censure him.

The matter was discussed at a full council meeting, in public, to which Foster fronted with a lawyer.

Councillors decided against formally censuring Foster - Pannett said at the time he had been punished enough.

“It’s all over the country that the mayor of the capital city has breached the code of conduct.”

This current process is shaping up to be nowhere near as dramatic but every bit as serious because public confidence in the council is at stake - no matter which side you are on.

Clark observed the complaint was a “symptom of a breakdown in trust and confidence between councillors”.

In a separate investigation into council governance in 2021, reviewer Peter Winder agreed these types of complaints were often a sign things weren’t going well and added: “Unfortunately, they also have a tendency to morph into the cause for further problems and the widening of rifts”.

Winder’s warning appears to have materialised with some of the councillors involved in this latest complaint already rejecting the draft findings and publicly scoffing at the recommendations.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.