Officials ponder councillor conduct while Benedict Ong has a ‘perfect’ week

By most people’s standards, Benedict Ong had had a rough week. The controversial councillor had been asked to leave two public events and was then ejected from a Dunedin City Council meeting. “No, not at all … It’s not rough for me,” Cr Ong told the Otago Daily Times. “Everyone asks me, how am I? I say, perfect … It’s a perfect week.” Cr Ong, whose councillor career has so far been littered with conduct issues, said he felt much the same as he had on his first day. “Day one, I was perfect against all those false attacks, the co-ordinated slander … I said then, I will grin and bear it.” Perfect was not the label Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker reached for. She had in mind a different word starting with p — police. Ms Barker said she was “incredibly concerned” about Cr Ong’s conduct, including at public events where people had felt intimidated. “I think that the police would be the best place [for people] to complain to,” she said. The mayor said Cr Ong was harming the council’s reputation and, though it had a code of conduct, the rules were “pretty toothless” under existing law. Local government scholar Andy Asquith said central government was culpable for that. Each three-year cycle, a council could become dysfunctional merely because one person was out of their depth, he said. Successive government ministers had had ample opportunity to put a marker down about councillor behaviour and had failed to do so. Dr Asquith is a former Massey University academic in Palmerston North. Now an adjunct research fellow in the Public Policy Institute at the University of Western Australia, he said he continued to keep a close eye on New Zealand councils. “The current controls are completely inadequate,” Dr Asquith said. “Look at Victoria, which has recently strengthened its local government regime quite significantly. And look at Western Australia, which is really getting to grips with this now. “If other places can make it work, then why the hell can’t New Zealand?” To be fair, beefing up rules around councillor behaviour may have been on Parliament’s backburner, but the issue is simmering in Wellington and it is on the agenda to be dealt with. For Dr Asquith, lack of obvious progress to date is a pointer to political priorities. He was not impressed with the way Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Resource Management Act Reform and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop had gone about pushing councils towards amalgamations. Instead of pursuing a local government reorganisation scheme that was going to “crash and burn, they would have been far better putting those resources into crafting a code of conduct that’s got legs, that would deal with the likes of Ong”. “It is possible to work round the likes of Ong but it takes a lot of will and a lot of resource and we’re back to the issue of councils haven’t exactly got a lot of spare resource floating around.” Mr Watts said he stood by decisions he had made in the local government portfolio. Councils had been given a chance to develop and submit proposals for mergers in what was known as the Head Start pathway. “Our government wants councils focused on getting the basics right and delivering better value for ratepayers,” he said. Work to produce a stronger code of conduct for New Zealand councils was continuing and would “be progressed in the next parliamentary term”. Since his election in October last year, Cr Ong has rarely been out of the headlines. Born in Dunedin, he returned from overseas and campaigned for council, causing something of a shock by earning a seat at the table. Scepticism abounded about his prior international banking career, but the ODT verified several claimed links, such as that he had held an associate director role. By Christmas, he had complained about the conduct of another new councillor, John Chambers. Cr Ong was reluctant to co-operate with the investigation, despite being the complainant, and his complaint was found to be without substance. Later in the summer, he landed himself in trouble over an email he sent about a council staff member. The February 4 email was viewed as likely retaliatory action against a witness in the previous investigation. Investigator Steph Dyhrberg’s final report was presented to the council the following month and Cr Ong’s defence at the meeting consisted of reading a passage of The Trial, by Franz Kafka. The council requested that Cr Ong consider resigning. He swiftly announced he would be doing no such thing. OTAGO IMAGES/OTAGO DAILY TIMESCr Benedict Ong reads from "The Trial", by Franz Kafka, in March, when his conduct was under scrutiny over an email about a Dunedin City Council staff member. The council asked him to consider resigning. He declined. Photo: Gerard O'Brien Cr Ong’s next breach of the code of conduct was for disclosing confidential information relating to a proposed hotel development beside Forsyth Barr Stadium. The council considered this behind closed doors on May 18 and a confused Cr Ong declared, without evidence, he was barred from attending such a meeting. He was then suspended from all council committees and subcommittees for nine months. He could still attend full council meetings. [Missing Credit]Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong talks to media outside a meeting where his peers found him in breach of the Dunedin City Council's code of conduct for sharing confidential information. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery Investigations involving Cr Ong have so far cost the council more than $17,000 and legal advice about his behaviour has cost it almost $10,000. He has another code of conduct matter pending, after deputy mayor Cherry Lucas alleged Cr Ong had again publicly posted confidential information and criticised the council’s chief executive on social media. Cr Ong told the ODT he spoke to an investigator about this complaint for about 20 seconds, saving the community some money. “If I refuse to spend any time speaking to them, then that’s less billable amounts they can wrongfully bill to our city council, our community and our ratepayers,” he said. Separate from code of conduct matters, Ms Barker removed Cr Ong as deputy lead of the technology portfolio and stripped from him informal privileges in February after what she described as extremely disrespectful behaviour towards her. As a consequence, his council pay fell from just under $100,000 to almost $84,500. Also in February, council chief executive Sandy Graham changed Cr Ong’s access arrangements to the Civic Centre after a concern was raised about him “accosting staff” — something he denied. This inspired Cr Ong to wear tape over his mouth — once for the purpose of a social media video, and again when he was at an informal meeting he was about to lose the privilege to attend. The mayor delivered her news to Cr Ong about that and four councillors escorted the tape-wearing councillor out of the building. [Missing Credit]Cr Benedict Ong wears duct tape over his mouth in February in protest against access restrictions at the Dunedin Civic Centre. Photo: Facebook In March, Cr Ong was ejected from a council workshop for what meeting chairman Cr Walker described as failure to abide by the rules. At a meeting in June, he wore large bandages on his cheeks and said, cryptically, this was to “cover up a display of red”. [Missing Credit]Cr Benedict Ong wears bandages on his cheeks at a meeting in June. He did not say in clear terms what this was in aid of. Photo: Gerard O'Brien Last month, Wellington deputy mayor Ben McNulty used Cr Ong as an example of ‘‘almost existential threats to democracy’’ and asked if legislation with “teeth” could be developed during local government reform to deal with poor behaviour, such as leaking confidential information. Cr Ong’s response was that he was being ‘‘politically and falsely attacked’’. What about Cr Ong’s most recent behaviour? On Monday last week, an antagonistic Cr Ong was tossed out of a council meeting over behaviour his peers found aggressive. Sitting with a copy of Lord of the Flies propped in front of him, Cr Ong appeared agitated as he attempted to ask questions of staff. He was soon pulled up for showing disrespect and then for what Cr Walker said was “bringing this meeting under disorder”. Points of order were upheld by the mayor. Cr Ong has been told repeatedly he is not entitled to debate such decisions, but he again continued talking and meeting rules were enforced this time — he had to leave. Cr Ong told the ODT he “wasn’t rude”. “I’m not aggressive, except for being aggressive to push for the job security of our council staff, our council executives and their wage growth, which simply is not keeping up with the Dunedin city’s cost of living. “Perhaps next time … I will say, please, kind sir, please, kind ma’am … maybe next time … I’ll consider being a little bit — I am very polite — extra, extra polite.” On the previous Saturday, he was removed from a general election debate by police. On the Wednesday before, he was escorted out of a student protest. Cr Ong had lengthy statements for the ODT about both incidents and they essentially boiled down to his perception he had been treated unfairly and some people were politically “far wrong”. What can be done if it turns out a councillor is unsuitable for office? Under existing law, not much. An individual councillor cannot really be fired, other than by voters in an election. They may be disqualified from office if convicted of a crime punishable by two years or more in prison. A person may also be disqualified by rules around contracts. SUPPLIEDCr Benedict Ong argues with a security guard and meeting organiser Mike Chewie Bennett (left) while question co-ordinator Brie Elliott waits at a debate in Dunedin this month. Photo: Supplied University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis was part of an electoral reform working group for Local Government New Zealand last year and its report included recommendations for strengthening accountability. Prof Geddis said he would let that speak for him around issues connected to Cr Ong. The working group’s recommendations ranged from asking the Electoral Commission to take over administration of local elections to bringing in a four-year term. Regarding councillor behaviour, the group said some code of conduct matters could be triaged and there would be significant benefits from a more formally established dispute resolution service. “This service would support professional standards, provide alternative resolution pathways and early intervention to avoid escalation where possible.” Where an issue did require escalation, the code of conduct process should be strengthened by introducing stronger penalties for significant breaches, the group said. It argued significant breaches could be investigated by the Local Government Commission and penalties might include suspensions and fines. “The Local Government Commission should also have the power to remove a member of local government for serious breaches.” Dr Asquith said such a framework might have been helpful for dealing with Cr Ong. However, when the government asked the Local Government Commission to produce a standardised code of conduct last year, offences and penalties were excluded from the commission’s consideration. The terms of reference explicitly excluded disqualification from office as a potential penalty. The Department of Internal Affairs subsequently clarified it was considering the issue of penalties and offences, as well as sanctions, by which it meant consequences less severe than penalties. The ODT asked the new Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport for an update. “The Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill includes a new power for the secretary of local government to issue a standardised code of conduct which councils will be required to follow,” a spokesman said. “The Bill is expected to be passed before the end of this electoral term.” Stronger rules around conduct are not imminent, though. Officials at the ministry, and formerly at Internal Affairs, had been investigating options for code of conduct sanctions, including looking at a wide range of potential options. “This work is intended to progress in the next electoral term and no decisions have been made on what options, if any, should be progressed,” the ministry spokesman said. “There are potentially significant legal and democratic implications which must be worked through before any changes will be made.”

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