King Phil

The Herald reports:

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he is maintaining confidentiality by not giving councillors full and open access to a $1 million pre-feasibility report on a potential $1.5 billion downtown stadium.

Following growing pressure from councillors and a former aide to drop strict conditions for accessing the report, Goff said he was concerned to maintain obligations to - believed to be landowners of five potentials sites in the city.

Councillor Penny Hulse told the Herald today that councillors should be treated on an equal footing with the mayor when it comes to the report and respecting its confidential contents.

Three other councillors – John Watson, and Efeso Collins – have lodged complaints with the Ombudsman over the mayor's actions.

As they should. Bad enough Goff commissioned this report and kept it secret for so long, but to deny elected representatives a copy is patronising.

A former political adviser to the mayor when he was in Parliament, James Bews-Hair, has criticised Goff's behaviour over the report and “his peculiar obsession with a waterfront stadium monument to his leadership”.

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