Media Release

14 February 2010

Boag and Banks put Supercity integrity on the line

Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford says Aucklanders should be very worried about the politicisation of the Auckland Supercity management team.

“It’s been revealed Michelle Boag, who is acting as a Senior Advisor to Mayor John Banks, has been hired to appoint Supercity staff. That is a huge conflict of interest,” Phil Twyford said.

“How on earth can Michelle Boag be expected to recruit what should be a politically independent public service to run the super city when she is also running the election campaign of the Right’s mayoral candidate?

“The fact that both Michelle Boag and Mayor Banks deny there is a conflict of interest calls into question their judgement and the process around the Supercity management appointments.”

Phil Twyford says it’s not a good look that Michelle Boag’s company to be awarded a million-dollar contract from the super city, and in return she works for Banks for free.

“If this conflict of interest is allowed to continue Aucklanders could be forgiven that this is simply a backdoor way of funding John Banks’ mayoral campaign,” Phil Twyford said.

“I’ll be asking more questions to ensure to awarding of the contract to Michelle Boag was transparent. But I think Boag and Banks should do what is right and remove themselves from this obvious conflict of interest.

“The establishment of the Supercity needs to have integrity for Aucklanders to have confidence in the changes being made. The cosy little arrangement that Boag and Banks have going at the moment though looks like its about getting jobs for John’s mates.”

Contact: Phil Twyford 0274449161