Jo Raphael: Operating behind closed doors is undemocratic

More of the council's workings need to operate out in public, rather than behind closed doors, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / File

OPINION

Democracy, quite literally, means the people's power.

Some democratic institutions seem to sometimes forget that they only exist at the will of the people.

Democracy is fickle - we put them in power. If we don't like what they do, we take them out of power.

It's fitting now that the Ombudsman has voiced his concerns and has launched an investigation into the concerns councils may be using workshops to discuss issues and even "make decisions behind closed doors".

The investigation will include eight councils, including Rotorua Lakes Council.

In his announcement about the investigation, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says "meetings should be open to the public unless there is good reason under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act".

"Operating workshops behind closed doors, in my view, is not how a functioning local democracy should operate."

An example of this type of secrecy was highlighted this year when Local Democracy Reporting revealed the council was discussing a proposal to sell 10 Rotorua reserve sites for housing.

It was later revealed the Government began the discussion with the council about the reserves early last year.

While the council maintained at the time that "no decisions have been made", in my view that is not the point.

In my opinion, the council needed to involve the public sooner in an idea, that if it goes ahead, will be irrevocable.

I believe this is fundamental democratic practice.

Do these democratic organisations truly expect us to hand over our rates so they can say "trust us, it's for your own good" and close the door in our faces?

This, in my view, is not democracy.

Local Democracy Reporting revealed last year that all 37 of Rotorua Lakes Council's workshops between 2018 and 2020 were held behind closed doors.

The default setting, as Massey University's head of public relations Dr Chris Galloway said at the time, should be that it's an open forum unless there is a good reason for it not to be.

When 37 out of 37 workshops are held in secret, whether they have a "good reason" or not, in my view, it tends to erode the faith the public has in its elected representatives.

How can the public be reliably informed when they don't know how and why some of their representatives have reached their decisions, formed their opinions or conducted debates?

Those discussions affect the public.

Those discussions must be held in public.

Those representatives are paid from the public purse.

Rotorua council made clear last year it had made a concerted effort to increase the amount of information and communication that goes out to the community.

This included live-streaming public meetings, a weekly newsletter, a quarterly magazine, and publishing information requests on its website.

But that is not enough.

It needs to operate all meetings in the open so the public and media can attend - unless a discussion around commercial or personal sensitivity is required.

I believe some councils in New Zealand need to act more transparently and bring their ratepayers in from the dark.