Viewpoint | Society/Management
The reputation game
Reorganisation options for Christchurch City Council Michael Garbett is a specialist local government partner at the law firm Anderson Lloyd
Jonathon Taylor is the Editor of Canterbury Today Magazine
A romantic will tell you that to truly know something is to come to love it, whereas a pessimist will say familiarity breeds contempt. When it comes to cricket I find myself with a foot in each camp.
Cairns’ case was that the allegation was ‘’wholly untrue’’ and a libel which would destroy what he had achieved in a 20 year career if uncorrected.
I love the game, but not what accompanies it behind closed doors. However I suspect this to be more indicative of the times, rather than the game itself.
Now you can’t blame a man for defending his reputation, especially if he’s convinced he’s been wronged, but if the defence does more damage to your reputation than the initial insult, then you have to ask if it’s the wisest course of action.
Cricket is to ball sports that which chess is to board games - the tactical grand daddy of them all. What unbelievers don’t realise, is that, arguably, cricket’s most sublime and bewitching beauty is its unrelenting paradox; the game may amble along at a stately pace, yet the action occurs in the blink of an eye. The infidel would have you believe you sit for hours on end and nothing happens, the believer knows that if you remove your eyes for the merest instant, you’ll miss a crucial moment. Of course nobody in their right mind would dream of sitting through an entire match – that’s just crazy talk. Cricket’s time frames are from another age altogether and bear little relevance to the pace of life today. Despite this, the onset of summer brings with it an eternal optimism for the fate of the Black Caps I simply can’t shake. It’s like a disease you see and is almost as fevered and deluded as a Welsh rugby supporter’s annual yearning for a sign, any sign, of the Dragon’s new dawn. So I followed the career of Chris Cairns with interest. A bowling all-rounder, Cairns offered game changing counter-strike ability in the middle order and, ball in hand, extracted bounce, swing and seam to test any batsman. When he called time on his international career, I doubt anyone questioned that, when on the park, he’d done anything other than give his all. So when I heard his name associated with match fixing I damn near fell off me chair! It was a report on the libel action Cairns took against Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi in the High Court in London for a 2010 Twitter comment suggesting Cairns fixed matches in the ICL Twenty20 competition.
Without exception, everyone I’ve spoken to about this trial had no idea in the world Cairns had been accused of match fixing; until he began formally defending himself.
The general consensus on defamation cases is that there are simply no winners; both sides end up with slurred reputations due to the nature of the trial being one big slagging match. But if you throw enough mud, eventually some will stick and in the finest traditions of ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ this trial has brought to light a Pandora’s Box of goodies. Former Indian Cricket League anti-corruption officer Howard Beer said he had “no doubts” Cairns was involved in match-fixing on the strength of team-mate TP Singh’s statement, as well as “other allegations”. Four former team mates were rolled out to give testimony to Cairns’ guilt, and then there’s the issue of the $100,000 paid into a Dubai bank account in 2008 for work with a rough-diamond trader’s business for which Cairns could produce no documentation. The public airing of these accusations and insinuations do illustrate one thing very clearly - if you want to protect your good name, there’s probably no worse way to do so than with a libel suit. If things go well, you win the case and get given some money for the damages incurred. But this doesn’t even come close to repairing the damage your reputation has taken, ironically, during the case taken to protect that reputation. In his attempt to defend his name, Cairns has damaged himself to a far greater extent than Modi ever did.
Calls for an overhaul of the Christchurch City Council raise far reaching constitutional issues. What are the options available to the Government and how might these work? Existing local body legislation arms the Local Government Minister, with a range of legal options to intervene in Local government if necessary. Most of these options have checks and balances to ensure elected councillors are fairly dealt with before any move to intervene. Under the Local Government Act, the minister could appoint a review authority to look at the performance of any council. There are limits on this power and to do so they must decide: • If there has been a significant or persistent failure by the local authority to meet its statutory obligations or… • If there has been significant and identifiable mismanagement of the local authority’s resources or… • If there is a significant and identifiable deficiency in the local authority’s management or decision-making processes. Following any such review, the minister could require the council to implement any recommendations. But if the local authority fails to adopt those recommendations, he could appoint a person, or people, to take over the functions of the council and act in its place. The minister could also call an early election for the council. Such a process is likely to take many months for a review and requires ministerial action. This process also gives the council a chance to comply with recommendations of the Minister before ministerial intervention. Commissioner Under present law, the Minister of Local Government can alternatively appoint a commissioner to run a council or to hold a new election if the local authority cannot meet certain criteria, requests the appointment of a Commissioner or is refusing to perform its duties. If the local
authority does not request a Commissioner, then the minister can only act if the local authority is unable or refuses to carry out its duties. This is an extreme situation and one that is rarely used. Local Government Commission There are also powers under the Local Government Act for the public to request “reorganisation” of councils. A reorganisation can be commenced by a council request, the Minister of Local Government or a petition from 10 percent of electors. Special Legislation Special legislation is a tool that enables the Government to tailor a structure and timeframes for a council that it wishes to achieve. Potentially this can happen very quickly, as was the case for ECan. Chief Executive Neither the Minister of Local Government, nor the Government, have any specific powers under existing legislation to affect the employment of chief executive Tony Marryatt, or for that matter, the chief executive of any council. It is only the council that has any power to manage the employment of a chief executive. New legislation would be required to effect any changes of this nature. Conclusion The structure and election of local councils is seen as a fundamental part of our democracy. Where there are existing statutory procedures enabling those structures to change, normally there is public consultation and opportunities for councils to remedy problems that arise. Outside the existing structures, Parliament has the power to create any special arrangements or changes it sees as appropriate by new legislation. Critical decisions need to be made on who leads Christchurch through the rebuild and beyond. The city will benefit from cohesive leadership at this time. Regardless of how the current debate plays out, it is also important that the people of Canterbury have the opportunity to have their say on the makeup of the city council, either through normal elections, existing statutory procedures or any special intervention that the Government may make.
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