Does the MacKenzie District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

Alex Harris made this Official Information request to MacKenzie District Council

Response to this request is long overdue. By law MacKenzie District Council should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.

From: Alex Harris

Dear MacKenzie 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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From: Alex Harris

Dear MacKenzie District Council,

A response to this request was due over a week ago and it is now late. Will I be receiving a response anytime soon?

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

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Alex Harris left an annotation ()

A complaint has now been lodged with the Ombudsman

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Alex Harris left an annotation ()

Apparently the original request was not recieved; the Council will apparently be responding "shortly". If its 20 working days from it being drawn to their attention by the Ombudsman, then a response will be due by 20 August.

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