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

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Nigel Gray <[FOI #20299 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 20 August 2022 4:17 pm
To: enquiry <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Transparency of the 26 NZ councils
and districts signed up to Safe Communities Foundation

 

[You don't often get email from
[7][FOI #20299 email]. Learn why this is
important at [8]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

 

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you
know the sender and content are safe.

 

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;
[9]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Nigel Gray

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[10][FOI #20299 email]

 

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If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

_______________________________________________________________
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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

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Nigel Gray <[FOI #20299 email]>

Sent: Saturday, 20 August 2022 4:17 pm

To: enquiry <[email address]>

Subject: Official Information request - Transparency of the 26 NZ councils
and districts signed up to Safe Communities Foundation

 

[You don't often get email from
mailto:[FOI #20299 email]. Learn why this is
important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

 

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you
know the sender and content are safe.

 

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://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Nigel Gray

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

mailto:[FOI #20299 email]

 

Is mailto:[Office of the Controller and Auditor-General request email] the wrong address for Official Information
requests to Office of the Controller and Auditor-General? If so, please
contact us using this form:

https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only for the
addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the
Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information on it.

 

References

Visible links
1. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.oag.parliament.nz/
4. https://twitter.com/auditor_general
5. https://www.facebook.com/AuditorGeneralNZ/
6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
7. https://www.instagram.com/auditorgeneral...

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