Denise Lee asked an embarrassing question in the house on Wednesday. It seems that Twyford, Parker and Goff hatched up a secret political meeting specifically excluding officials.
Sounds a bit dodgy.
DENISE LEE (National—Maungakiekie) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Is he confident he is meeting the Prime Minister’s expectations around openness and transparency?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Yes.
Denise Lee: Did he meet with the Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff, and the Minister for the Environment David Parker on 2 March 2019 to discuss the Auckland Rural Urban Boundary?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes.
Denise Lee: Why, when his and Minister Parker’s diaries were released, did Minister Parker reveal the meeting, but he did not?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The meeting was in my diary, but there was an error in the published diary—[Interruption] […]
Is that the Curran defence?
Denise Lee: Is it correct—as was asserted in emails released to me from Minister Parker’s office—that he [Twyford] requested “a political meeting with no officials” with Mayor Goff and Minister Parker to discuss the Auckland Rural Urban Boundary? […]
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I had requested a meeting with no officials present.
Denise Lee: What does the non-disclosure by a Minister of a meeting with another Minister and the mayor of New Zealand’s largest city about, arguably, the most important factor impacting on the supply and cost of housing say about this Government’s commitment to openness and transparency?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well, as I said: as soon as the error was pointed out to me that the matter hadn’t been transferred over to the published diary, it was corrected.
Denise Lee: I seek leave to table an email from Minister Twyford’s office requesting a meeting with the Mayor of Auckland to discuss the Rural Urban Boundary that states it is to be a political meeting with no officials in attendance. […]
Hansard
