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[padding] Hi {NAME}, Stuff’s[“Things we didn’t learn this week”]( campaign intends to shine a light on the daily reluctance of many important public bodies to answer questions. I have felt guilty not being able to contribute since it began - I have daily dealings with Auckland Council, and its agencies - and there is a good reason, but one that many won’t believe. From my own experience, Auckland is served by[local body organisations that are prepared to be open]( , not always immediately, but mostly eventually. Openness is a culture, and largely driven from the top, and the variations in my experiences with Auckland Council and its agencies have largely reflected that. The council was formed in 2010, amalgamating eight local bodies, and its mood reflected a public expectation that so much would be better. Openness also reflects confidence, and in inaugural CEO Doug McKay and mayor Len Brown there was a transparency which generally cascaded through to lower levels. The[initial outlier was Auckland Transport]( chaired by the late Mark Ford, who led the amalgamation process, and inaugural CEO David Warburton. Both took far too literally the legislative design of the so-called council-controlled agencies as semi-autonomous companies, with boards, indirect control by politicians, and limited direct accountability to the public. I, and representatives of other stakeholder groups, spent years trying to get AT to publish even the contents page of the confidential parts of its agendas - a change which really only occurred under the second chair Lester Levy. Political style and leadership conditions the readiness of the agencies to be open. My monthly chats with the council’s second CEO Stephen Town were suspended for a while after the arrival of Phil Goff as mayor in 2016. Goff’s early public criticism of some CCOs, and a habit of releasing letters laying down the law to the chief executive or a board chair, created a wariness of being open. Things are not always perfect, and the slow-moving official information process for more complex queries is frustrating, but compared to many central government ministries and institutions Aucklanders can have some confidence in “ask, and it shall be answered”. [padding]
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Todd Niall
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Senior Stuff Journalist
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Rapid antigen tests rolled out in Auckland to ease pressure on testing sites
[spacer] From today, the quicker, but less accurate, rapid antigen tests (RAT) will be rolled out in Auckland - to stop Covid-19 testing centres being overwhelmed. Auckland recorded 1799 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, showing the virus is ramping up in the supercity, where it has been taking up to five days to deliver PCR results. [spacer]
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