iSAYSO
Rangitikei District Council, rates enforcement, court processing and the public record
The public-confidence test
This investigation does not need a predetermined conclusion.
The Crown has two perfectly satisfactory ways to answer it.
It can demonstrate that the systems are coherent, the records reconcile, the powers were properly exercised and the risks were properly assessed.
Or it can identify deficiencies and explain how they will be corrected.
What damages public confidence is something else entirely:
extraordinary power when government wants compliance, followed by fragmented records when the public wants accountability.
New Zealanders were required to accept extraordinary restrictions because the Crown said they were necessary.
It is therefore not unreasonable for those same people to demand an equally extraordinary standard of accountability from the Crown.
Who decided?
By whose authority?
On what evidence?
Under what conditions?
Who benefited?
Who bore the cost?
And most importantly:
Can the Crown prove it?