Media Release 9 September 2016

Auckland mayoral candidate David Hay announced an Open Data policy today.

"I am very keen on transparency, increasing citizen understanding of council finances, and driving more effective competition among suppliers and contractors, to bring down council's costs." said Mr Hay.

"There are three priority areas targeted by this policy: first is an Open Data portal for council's Research Monitoring and Investigations Unit, second is an interactive council budget portal, similar to the one used by the City of Boston, and third a searchable tenders and contracts database.

"In 2014, while working in the Social Policy unit at Auckland Council, I commissioned an open data site for grants made by pokie trusts, so people could see which groups in Auckland had received money form pokie trusts, and how that grant money was distributed to different areas in Auckland. I believe this type of information is essential to support citizen understanding of policy issues and engagement in policy-making." said Mr Hay.

"The contracts and tenders database is something I've heard Penny Bright advocating for, time and time again, on the campaign trail. I've found her strident and self-promoting presentation to be a turn-off, and I disagree with her view that Auckland Council is a hotbed of corporate corruption. But Penny's desire for greater transparency is something I do support, in principle.

"I expect that better information and greater transparency will help drive greater competition in the provision of goods and services to council, and drive down costs. It will also allow citizens to use their own judgement to decide whether council is getting real value for money." said Mr Hay.

Mr Hay also commented, wryly, that: "A minor benefit of this policy is that Ms Bright might, finally, pay the rates she owes. And, while I don't expect she will be silent in future, perhaps she might choose a different target for her activism."

ENDS

LINKS:

Policy statement online: http://www.heydavidhay.nz/open-data/

City of Boston interactive budget portal (for example): http://budget.data.cityofboston.gov/#/

© Scoop Media