The Rotorua Lakes Council will publicly apologise for rejecting a Lakeland Queen petition three years ago, after accepting the Ombudsman’s finding that this was unreasonable.
The decision came after councillor Robert Lee presented a notice of motion to accept the Ombudsman’s final opinion, apologise, and invite petitioner Terry Hammond to a future council meeting to address elected members for five minutes.
The motion was carried at Wednesday’s council meeting with all councillors voting in favour except Karen Barker and Gregg Brown.
Lee said Hammond – who owned and operated the Lakeland Queen tourism business for more than three decades until it was forced into hibernation during the Covid-19 pandemic – approached him in late 2023 with concerns about how council had dealt with the vessel and its future at the redeveloped Rotorua lakefront.
Hammond was disputing requirements to fund a replacement jetty before the historical paddle steamer could resume operations, and was also facing efforts to remove the vessel from its dry-dock site.
Lee advised Hammond to submit a petition to council.
The petition, which attracted hundreds of signatures, was intended to be submitted to the council’s infrastructure and environment committee in December 2023 but was rejected as being out of scope.
“He prepared his petition, he got hundreds of signatures, and I was surprised – dismayed, actually – when our council refused to accept his petition,” Lee said.
“It was claimed that it was outside the scope of council, which I found baffling.
“It’s not like the Lakeland Queen jetty is found in the Chatham Islands or something.”
That month, Lee lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman challenging the decision. On June 29 this year, Chief Ombudsman John Allen issued his final opinion, finding the petition was within council’s remit and that the decision to decline it had been unreasonable.
Addressing councillors, Lee described the finding as an opportunity to “right a historical wrong”.
“I would ask that we do the right thing,” he said.
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, Hammond welcomed the council’s decision and the opportunity to finally address elected members directly.
“I think it’s very respectful,” he said.
Hammond declined to elaborate on the specific points he intended to raise when addressing councillors, saying he preferred to reserve those comments for the meeting.
He indicated an intention to raise questions about the flow of information between council staff and elected members during the Lakeland Queen saga.
Chief executive Andrew Moraes told councillors that the council eventually received the petition in question in April 2024.
“It was subsequently received and approved by myself,” he said. Moraes was not at Rotorua Lakes Council at the time of Hammond’s initially rejected petition.
Moraes said the Ombudsman had also recognised that council’s later decision to accept the petition was the correct one.
Lee acknowledged the petition had later been received but said it was presented by the Save Our Iconic Lakeland Queen group, rather than Hammond himself, using the same wording and signatories as Hammond’s original.
That meant Hammond never received the opportunity to personally address councillors about the petition he originally lodged in December 2023, Lee said.
“This is really intended to give Terry his first opportunity to address us, as he should have been able to in December 2023,” Lee said.
Mayor Tania Tapsell said she was “perfectly comfortable” issuing an apology. This was despite the Ombudsman not recommending one as the circumstances surrounding the Lakeland Queen had “moved on considerably” since the original decision.
Hammond’s company went into liquidation in 2024, and he sold the paddle boat. It resumed cruise operations under the new ownership and is now being offered for sale again.
Tapsell said it was the right move to “wrap up” the issue.
She said she also supported inviting Hammond to speak at a future council meeting.
Hammond would be invited to appear before councillors and give a five-minute address at the next full council meeting on September 23.
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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