Auckland, Mar 31, 2017 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pro-democracy group, Democracy Action, says the process in which Auckland Council has consulted on its Annual Plan is flawed and undemocratic, with public participation and oral submissions being shunted down to local boards, when it is Councillors who will be making the decisions.

The group’s founder, Lee Short, says, “Consultation in a democracy is about those affected by decisions being able to participate in those decisions and interact with the decision makers. The Council’s ‘we know best’ approach in pre-empting who to hear from prior to submissions even closing on the draft plan is undemocratic.”

“The Mayor’s process is particularly unfair for those thousands of Aucklanders who took the time to make a submission to the Council and would have assumed that their voices would be heard around the Council table. They have been shunted to local board level because they are not one of the anointed groups the Council wants to hear from.”

ENDS