Rotorua councillor Robert Lee (right) has accused Mayor Tania Tapsell (top left) and councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait of a premeditated attack. Photo / NZME
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell and councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait have hit back at accusations of a “co-ordinated” attack on fellow elected member Robert Lee amid the fallout from a council workshop walk-out.
Lee stormed out of a Rotorua Lakes Council play, active recreation and sport strategy update workshop on Wednesday, following a clash with Raukawa-Tait.
Following a workshop presentation from the council’s parks and open spaces manager, Rob Pitkethley, Lee dubbed the work one of his areas of “least confidence”, before asking Pitkethley to explain the difference between engagement and consultation.
At this point, he received a one-minute-long dressing down from Raukawa-Tait over what she called his “disturbing” and “undermining” questioning.
“I don’t want to sit here and listen to that,” she said, telling her fellow councillors she was “hōhā” [annoyed] with Lee.
She said the councillors were trying to “be positive” and Lee did not have a “monopoly” on community concerns.
“It’s low-level questioning, and my expectation as a councillor of many years is that you would get a grip and actually do what is required.”
Mayor Tapsell then interjected, reminding councillors to remain on task.
Lee attempted to ask the question again, at which point Tapsell ruled the question irrelevant and moved on to another councillor.
Lee stood up, packed up his briefcase and walked out of the chambers.
“Disgraceful,” he said, as he made his early exit.
Speaking later, Lee told Local Democracy Reporting the meeting had become “dysfunctional”, and said he left because he felt he was being prevented from asking a question relevant to the presentation and important to the public’s understanding.
He described the episode as “nasty politics” and believed it was a “pre-planned and orchestrated attack” from the pair, accusing the mayor of using Raukawa-Tait as her “attack dog”.
“As an elected member, I have a right to speak,” Lee said.
“This is a privilege given to me by virtue of being elected. Chairs ought to respect that right, even if they don’t personally agree with what I say.”
Lee said Raukawa-Tait had no right to interrupt him, as she had not called a point of order and accused her of a “personal attack” in her “breathless and rambling catharsis”.
“As the councillor said, she is ‘hōhā’ with me,” Lee said.
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing she has a serious attitude problem.”
He also claimed the mayor had regularly “run interference” on his questioning over the past three years.
Raukawa-Tait told Local Democracy Reporting that the idea that this was a pre-planned attack was “absolute rubbish”.
“How could you possibly pre-plan or orchestrate something because I don’t know what his behaviour is going to be like at any given point,” she said.
“I think that’s a silly comment to make and quite untrue.”
She said an experienced councillor should never leave a meeting early out of frustration, noting Lee also left last week’s Te Arawa 2050 Vision Committee meeting early, following another tit-for-tat between the pair.
The two councillors have clashed since Raukawa-Tait returned to the council at last year’s local elections, winning a Māori ward seat after a term away from the chambers.
In November, she labelled Lee’s views on the Te Arawa Vision committee as “quite ignorant”.
Regarding this week’s incident, she said she was ready to work “constructively” with Lee but wanted the councillors to focus on their responsibility to the community.
“There is so much work to be done, and I just can’t afford to get down and dirty with Councillor Lee,” she said.
“The work comes first, and that’s my priority.”
Mayor Tapsell called it “crazy” that Lee had left a “positive and important” meeting about the city’s parks and recreation spaces.
“There’s no excuse for getting angry and walking out because you’re being called out for your behaviour,” she said.
She said Lee was not prevented from asking questions but asked to stay “respectful and on topic”.
Tapsell strongly denied any suggestion of premeditation in her or Raukawa-Tait’s actions.
“There has never been, and never will be, a ‘co-ordinated attack’ on any councillor under my watch,” she said.
Tapsell said there was shared concern among some elected members about potentially “offensive, irrelevant, or disruptive” comments or questions from Lee in council meetings.
“That is something we’ve all tried to support him with improving, and he should seriously reflect on it,” she said.
“While he’s wasting time making things up and throwing personal attacks, the rest of us are staying focused on what matters most, making Rotorua better.”
The council will meet again for an audit and risk committee meeting this afternoon.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.