Taupo Mayor believes technology the key to better democracy

Mayor Rick Cooper is passionate about transparency and democracy and believes using technology to improve public awareness is the way of the future.

Taupo District Council voted overwhelmingly to investigate the options to allow Council meetings to be recorded and broadcast to the public. The item, which had strong support from councillors, was raised by the Mayor who believes technology is a tool that should be used to allow people access to Council meetings. “People are so busy they cannot spare the time to come to meetings but if they had a computer at their home or workplace, they could watch if and when they choose.”

“In the Taupo district over 40% of our ratepayers live outside of the district so many of them are probably unaware of how their hard earned rates dollars are being spent. I passionately believe we need to take that extra step and use technology to allow them to witness the process of governance if they so desire,” said Mayor Cooper, adding that while this is a new idea for New Zealand, it is common practice overseas.

Mayor Cooper gave the example of the Taupo Urban Commercial and Industrial Structure Plan hearings. “This is a very important issue for our ratepayers, but if you live in Auckland or Wellington you are really at a disadvantage – that’s not my idea of democracy. A lot of people are very interested in this issue and they could tune in remotely if we could record or broadcast these meetings.”

Council staff have been asked to investigate costs and options for recording and broadcasting meetings, and also to look into privacy and employment issues and report back to the next Council meeting.