Alex,

Council does open it's meeting with a prayer. Usually a cleric from the community is invited to read out a prayer which they select. Occasionally when there is no-one available one of our councillors will read a prayer (does not happen often).

Council has had a practice of opening it's ordinary Council meetings with a prayer at least since the early 1980s and probably prior to that, however, our minutes of earlier meetings have not recorded a prayer being read.

Council has not considered whether to abolish the prayer (or otherwise) following the Wanganui District Council decision, nor has it sought advice on the matter.

If you require any further information on the matter please contact me.

Peter Christophers
Manager Finance & Corporate Services
Kawerau District Council

Phone
07 306 9009
Fax
07 323 8072
Web
http://www.kaweraudc.govt.nz
Postal
 
Private Bag
Kawerau 3169
New Zealand
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-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[OIA #147 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 17 April 2012 12:29 p.m.
To: Kawerau DC
Subject: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request: Does the Kawerau District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

Dear Kawerau District Council,

As you may have read recently, the Whanganui District Council
abolished its opening prayer after a complaint was made to the
Human Rights Commission. I'm interested in learning how widespread
this practice is, so I'd like to request the following information
under the LGOIMA:

* Does the Council open its meetings with a prayer?
* If the answer to the above is "yes", then I'd like a copy of that
prayer (or examples, if more than one is used), when the practice
was first established, whether the council has considered
abolishing it in the wake of the Whanganui decision, and any advice
the council may hold on the prayer's compatibility with both the
Human Rights Act 1993 and Bill of Rights Act 1990.

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about
this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the
fyi.org.nz website.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

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