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Local Government Act 2002

Governance and management of local authorities and community boards - Local authorities - Other governance matters

45: Local authority to respond to Auditor-General

You could also call this:

“Council must answer Auditor-General's report and share it with the public”

When the Auditor-General sends a report to you, you need to respond to it in writing within 28 days. You also need to send a copy of your response to the Minister. Your response must answer each of the Auditor-General’s recommendations. If there was any loss, you need to say what you plan to do about it.

The Minister can give you more time to respond if needed. If you’re a member of the local authority, you can respond on your own. You can either send a separate response to the Auditor-General and give copies to the local authority and the Minister, or you can include your response in the local authority’s response if they agree.

After the time for responding is over, you need to show the Auditor-General’s report and all the responses at a public meeting of the local authority. This includes the local authority’s response and any separate responses from individual members.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM171863.

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44: Report by Auditor-General on loss incurred by local authority, or

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Part 4 Governance and management of local authorities and community boards
Local authorities: Other governance matters

45Local authority to respond to Auditor-General

  1. On receipt of a report from the Auditor-General, the local authority must, within 28 days, respond in writing to the Auditor-General, and send a copy of the response to the Minister.

  2. The local authority's response must—

  3. respond to each of the Auditor-General's recommendations; and
    1. include a statement as to what action, if any, the local authority intends to take in respect of the loss.

      1. The Minister may extend the period of time within which the local authority must forward its response.

      2. An individual member of the local authority may respond to the Auditor-General—

      3. by making a separate response to the Auditor-General, and sending a copy to the local authority and the Minister, within the time required for the local authority's response; or
        1. with the consent of the local authority, by incorporating that member's response in the local authority's response.

          1. The local authority must, as soon as practicable after the expiry of the time for forwarding its response, table in a meeting of the local authority that is open to the public a copy of the Auditor-General's report, the local authority's response, and any response of an individual member of the local authority not incorporated in the local authority's response.

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