Dear New Plymouth District Council (NPDC),

I am writing to request all information to which I am entitled under section 12 of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) (The Act). I am a NZ citizen and live in New Zealand, and this information is sought in the public interest of all New Zealanders.

Please find below my OIA request, which relates to NPDC's Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act (LAMIA) and NPDC employment obligations Re conflicts of interest that Councillors or planning officers may have with regard to membership of masonic lodges.

What is a conflict of interest? Taken from New Zealand Government (www.ssc.govt.nz and www.oag.govt.nz);

A conflict of interest is where someone is comprised when their personal interests or obligations conflict with the responsibilities of their job or position. It means that their independence, objectivity or impartiality can be called into question.

A conflict of interest can be:
(1). Actual: where the conflict already exists.
(2). Potential: where the conflict is about to happen.
(3). Perceived: where other people might reasonably think that a person has been compromised.

A poorly managed ‘perceived’ conflict of interest can be just as damaging as a poorly managed ‘actual’ conflict of interest.

Legislation (Statutory and common law) requires local government candidates to declare any known conflicts or likely conflicts of interest they would have if elected? Membership of professional /voluntary bodies & conflicts of interest – Individuals should declare membership of any professional body or organization where their membership may appear to represent a conflict of interest or attract accusations of bias. This includes any private organizations whose membership is not totally open to the public. Any such membership must be recorded
Under the Council’s Code of Conduct for Employees, all staff have a personal responsibility to disclose any financial or other interests they have outside work that could bring about conflict with the Council’s interests. I have recently received a copy of the NPDC Code of Conduct (ECM 8800053 v1 LGOIMA Response NPDC s Code of Ethics Business Conduct Standards of integrity code of conduct Refers).

Information which should be declared includes: financial interests in organizations with whom the council has dealings e.g. contractors, consultancies; secondary employment; involvement with an organization that has dealings with the council e.g. pressure groups, organizations grant funded by the council, school governing bodies; relationships to Officers/Members or others which may cause conflict; membership of closed organizations/secret societies.

1. I request a current list of all NPDC local government staff who hold membership with any Freemason/masonic Lodge or society.

(a). To hold membership in a secret society is a conflict of interest and also lacks public transparency and should be made a matter of public interest. Please provide copies of the NPDC ‘conflict of interest questionnaire’ (Declaration of interests) for the past 9 years.

(b). NPDC register of interests, registers should be located within each council’s governance statement. Making these registers public contribute to public confidence and to the accountability of the member and the local authority. The primary reasons for creating such registers is to strengthen public confidence in public bodies like local government. Please confirm by year (for the past 9 years) how many members of NPDC have not filed or completed this requirement (by numbers and department).

2. Under what circumstances (if any) can NPDC public servants avoid declaring potential conflicts of interest.

The State Services Commissioner is responsible for setting standards of integrity and conduct across the State Services. Standards of integrity and conduct for the State Services are established in a code of conduct which in its current form came into force on 20th November 2007.

The core values in the code of conduct relevant to conflicts of interest are the requirements to act with fairness and with impartiality, In addition, the guidance that supports the current code of conduct notes organizations may prohibit the continued holding of certain types of interest as a condition of appointment to a position, or promote transparency by requiring this type of interest to be registered.

Membership of such organizations fits exactly into the category outlined above, and given the council's our commitment to openness and transparency, there is no reason to withhold this information.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Craig Hardgrave