Christchurch City Council’s refusal to release an independent report exposing wasteful council spending is an appalling refusal to be transparent, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Christchurch ratepayers deserve to see what they got for their $95,000. It’s a real concern that ratepayers weren’t able to cast their eye over the suggestions in this report while submissions were open for the Council’s long-term plan.”

“The Council of course has form for this. Our fight back in 2018 to get the Council to release the cost of a $1.3 million touch screen led us all the way to the steps of the High Court before the information was grudgingly released. The saga led to a damning judgment from the Ombudsman. Now, it appears the Council’s new Chief Executive is continuing a culture of secrecy.”

“The Council argues that releasing the report would raise privacy concerns. So why not release it in redacted form, with identifying details of individuals blanked out? The Council might fear the political consequences of releasing a critical report, but that’s not a legitimate reason to withhold public information.”

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