Christchurch City Councillor wants secret briefings made public

Christchurch City Councillor Yani Johanson calling for increased transparency within the council's operations.

Johanson expressed concern about the current approach to public accessibility, stating, "In the past when I've sought advice from the organisation over our briefings and being able to extend the invite to the community, I've been told that there was a directive that briefings are not usually open to the public."

Johanson urged the council to support his proposal for making workshops and briefings public by default.

"I think that that needs to change or be flipped around. We should accept that briefings should be open to the public as a default setting," he said, acknowledging that there might be exceptional cases requiring confidentiality, but these should be rare rather than common.

Highlighting the dissatisfaction expressed by residents in the latest survey, Johanson pointed out the concerning statistics: "35% say that they're satisfied with understanding our decision making, 29% are satisfied with public involvement in our decision making, and only one in four, 24%, are satisfied that we're operating in an open and transparent manner.

"We have the ability to start to change," suggesting that the council has the power to improve public trust and engagement through greater transparency.

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said while he was happy to support Yani’s proposal, a concern he had was that “if council workshops were in public, we won't be full and frank with each other. We won't have honest discussion.”

City Councillor Sam MacDonald said he welcomed any changes that would help drive better outcomes and more transparency.