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 both Official Information Act and 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 the definition of 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 sets out the purpose of the Bill.

Clause 5 amends section 6 to repeal the exclusion of port companies and their subsidiaries from the definition of “council-controlled organisation”.

Clause 6 makes a consequential amendment to the Port Companies Act 1988.