Local Government (Port Companies Accountability) Amendment Bill

Local Government (Port Companies Accountability) Amendment Bill EXPLANATORY NOTE GENERAL POLICY STATEMENT All publicly owned entities, including ports, should be subject to public accountability and transparency requirements, but currently, port companies and their subsidiaries are excluded from Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act requests. This limits the ability of the public to hold port companies and subsidiaries accountable for their actions despite the fact they are publicly owned entities. This Bill reverses the exclusion of port companies and their subsidiaries from certain rules that apply to council-controlled organisations in the Local Government Act 2002. This will have the effect of applying normal public accountabilities to port companies, including the application of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, the requirement to act as a good employer, and the requirement to exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which they operate. CLAUSE BY CLAUSE ANALYSIS Clause 1 is the Title clause. Clause 2 is the commencement clause and provides for the Bill to come into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent. Clause 3 states that the Local Government Act 2002 is the principal Act . Clause 4 inserts a new section 74A into the principal Act to apply sections 59 (Principal objective of council-controlled organisation), 60A (Significant decisions of council-controlled organisations affecting land or water), and 74 (Official information) to port companies as if they are council-controlled organisations. Clause 5 contains consequential amendments to sections 6 and 17 of the Port Companies Act 1988 to recognise that the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 will now apply to port companies. The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows: 1 Title This Act is the Local Government (Port Companies Accountability) Amendment Act 2025 . 2 Commencement This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent. 3 Principal Act This Act amends the Local Government Act 2002 (the principal Act ). 4 New section 74A and cross-heading inserted After section 74, insert: Application of Part to port companies 74A Port companies to be treated as council-controlled organisations in certain circumstances 1 Sections 59, 60A and 74 apply, with any necessary modifications, to a port company as if it were a council-controlled organisation. 2 In this section, port company means a port company or subsidiary of a port company within the meaning of the Port Companies Act 1988. 5 Consequential amendments to the Port Companies Act 1988 This section amends the Port Companies Act 1988. Repeal section 6(4). In section 17, replace if the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 applied to port companies and a request for that information were made under that Act with under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 .