Code of silence

Otago regional councillor Michael Laws is among those who believe codes of conduct are being used to gag elected representatives and undermine local democracy.

- YVONNE VAN DONGEN

It is something of an understatement to say Michael Laws is no stranger to controversy. In the course of the 65-year-old’s varied career as a writer, newspaper columnist, broadcaster, MP, councilor, and mayor, he has wrangled with the political parties he has belonged to (National and NZ First), upset radio listeners, and broadcasting regulatory authorities, and outraged colleagues and residents in both Napier and Whanganui.

When he was elected to the Otago Regional Council in 2016, it’s fair to say there were probably more than a few people clenching their buttocks, waiting for his next offensive.

When it came, it was relatively mild for a Laws outburst. In July 2021, on hearing that one arm of the council had given permission for a company to dump hard fill into the Clutha River, while another had condemned the act, Laws said the contradictory actions were "extraordinarily embarrassing". Two days later, he described a report on public submissions on flow scenarios for the Manuherikia River as "bogus" and "crap".

In August, then council chief executive Sarah Gardner lodged a complaint that Laws had breached the council's code of conduct. According to Laws, the complaint could have cost him his role as deputy chair of the council, had him excluded from council committees, or barred him from entering council offices for a period.

He was accused, he says, of endangering unnamed council staff both psychologically and physically.

Three months later, an independent investigator cleared him of all wrongdoing. Interpreting any public criticism of council actions as creating a risk of physical or psychological harm to employees and thus a breach of conduct "would effectively prevent any media criticism of council activities", said Steph Dyhrberg, from Dyhrberg Drayton Employment Law.