Printed from https://fyi.org.nz/request/20299-transparency-of-the-26-nz-councils-and-districts-signed-up-to-safe-communities-foundation on November 05, 2024 11:33

Transparency of the 26 NZ councils and districts signed up to Safe Communities Foundation

Nigel Gray made this Official Information request to Office of the Controller and Auditor-General

Office of the Controller and Auditor-General did not have the information requested.

From: Nigel Gray

Dear Office of the Controller and Auditor-General,
With some 26 councils signed up to the "Safe Communities Foundation" according to their website I would like to know:
1. Taking into consideration that Safe Communities Foundation are a front group for World Health Organization, a foreign entity, are you aware that under the Electoral Act 1993
any person acknowledging obedience to or allegiance to a foreign power may be vacated from office?
[ ref. 55 HOW VACANCIES CREATED
(1)
The seat of any member of Parliament shall become vacant—
(A)
if, otherwise than by virtue of being a head of mission or head of post within the meaning of the Foreign Affairs Act 1988, for one whole session of Parliament he or she fails, without permission of the House of Representatives, to give his or her attendance in the House; or
(B)
if he or she takes an oath or makes a declaration or acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign State, foreign Head of State, or foreign Power, whether required on appointment to an office or otherwise; or
(c) if he or she does or concurs in or adopts any act whereby he or she may become a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, or entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power; or...." ]

2. The payment for joining this foundation is around $2000. Apparently each council signing up has used ratepayer funds to make this payment. Were ratepayers advised they were being signed up to a foreign-driven organization?
3.Is it democratic for a NZ local council to sign up for membership in a foreign organization without advising ratepayers?
4. On whose authorization were these councils permitted to sign up to a foreign organization?
For your ease in investigating this I provide here the link to their website; https://safecommunities.org.nz/

Yours faithfully,

Nigel Gray

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From: enquiry

Tçnâ koe Mr Gray

 

Thank you for your email of 20 August 2022.

 

We’ve passed your email on to the person best placed to consider it, and
our Office will be in touch in due course.

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Enquiry mailbox
04 917 1500| [1][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[2]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [3]Twitter, [4]Facebook, [5]Linkedin,
and [6]Instagram

 

 

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From: enquiry

Tçnâ koe Mr Gray

 

Thank you for your email of 20 August 2022.

 

We thought it may be helpful to explain our role. The Auditor-General is
responsible for auditing the financial and performance information of
public sector organisations. Our work is designed to give independent
assurance that public entities are operating, and accounting for their
performance, in keeping with Parliament’s intentions. We do not have
direct power to change what a public organisation is doing, and we cannot
intervene in, or reverse, spending decisions made by public organisations.
You can read more at [1]About us — Office of the Auditor-General New
Zealand.

 

Our legislation, the Public Audit Act 2001, allows the Auditor-General to
inquire into a public organisation’s use of resources. However, we cannot
inquire into decisions by councils to join or fund the Safe Communities
Foundation as these are policy decisions for those councils to make.
Councils have a broad mandate to work in ways that they consider will
achieve their objectives, including by associating with other
organisations. We can look into whether the people managing or governing
public entities followed a proper process, but we can’t question the
merits of policy decisions.

 

We encourage people to first raise their concerns directly with the
relevant organisation, as those organisations should have processes for
responding to complaints. 

 

As you refer to the Official Information Act 1982, we should let you know
that the Auditor-General is also not subject to that Act. Instead, the
Office has discretion about what information to release, given that most
of our work and information is subject to obligations of confidentiality.

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Enquiry mailbox
04 917 1500| [2][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[3]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [4]Twitter, [5]Facebook, [6]Linkedin,
and [7]Instagram

 

 

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