my post at http://www.indymedia.org.nz/article/77852/animal-welfare-institute-new-zealand is back up it sets out the story behind AWINZ and its beginings. The original post is below…
Ever wondered why New Zealand is the least corrupt in the OECD , well this is why.
In 2006 I questioned the accountability that the Animal welfare Institute of New Zealand (AWINZ) had to the public
AWINZ is an approved Organisation under the Animal welfare act and has law enforcement powers. Neil Wells who wrote the bill for the act with his own ambitions for a Territorial animal welfare authority in mind , made the application on behalf of AWINZ to the minister in 1999 and in so doing made several false claims including the false allegation that a trust deed existed and that it was being incorporated.
Wells a former head of the the SPCA, intended to make his money by providing local governments with the resources to extend dog control and stock control ( both statutory responsibilities of council ) to include the duties traditionally carried out by the SPCA.
Local government New Zealand objected to territorial authorities being involved in a central government role, but despite this Wells tried to keep his ambition alive by creating the concept of a trust and made an application to the minister .
The reality is that his claims were no more and no less what John Davies was found guilty of and Mary Anne Thompson is facing fraud charges for.
But such as it was it was not Wells who was had up for making false claims, it was me the whistle blower who was executed. Defamation charges were filed to sielnce me and so with my statutory defence of truth and honest opinion denied Judge Roderick Joyce ordered me to pay costs in the vicinity of $140,000 for speaking the truth . The learned Judge came to the conclusion that mr ” wells had got ahead of himself .His honour was forced to go on line to find evidence to substantiate his stand against me. ( ironically Joyce has reprimanded jurors for exactly this )
I appealed the decision in February 2009 but the wheels of justice have failed to deliver a decision as yet but never mind with lawyers bills of round the $100,000 mark the cost judgemnt still hovering inthe background and a now broken marriage I have to be grateful that I live in a democracy a civilised society where openness and transparency exists in governance and justice.
This week an official information act release arrived as here with it states “ The trustees of AWINZ have subsequently made a voluntary decision, which has been advised to the Minister of Agriculture, to relinquish AWINZ’s status as an approved organisation under the Act. ”
But apart from this document ,which is now 3 months old, there is no indication that anything has changed and my sources reveal that AWINZ still operates as it has done for the past 9 years being that this trading name contracts to Central and local Government. Wells is now the manager of animal welfare Waitakere and effectively ” contracts” to himself.
The concept is ingenious- an SPCA which operated from council premises, uses council staff , vehicles and resources , prioritises animal welfare work over council work and all that was left for Wells to do ( apart from collecting his council wages ) is to collect the public donations ,solicited in council paid envelopes sent out with dog regsitration , and banking them into a bank account which bearing the name ” animal welfare institute of New Zealand ” over which only Neil Wells had control over.
This is a classic example as to the lack of transparency in New Zealand and serves as a warning to any one who questions what they believe to be a conflict of interest in a public private relationship . How many more AWINZ’s are there out there , why is it so difficult to question corruption – Oh that’s where we came in New Zealand is the least corrupt in the OECD I know because the statistics show it. Don’t look under the rug that’s where we smother the whistle blowers.
Anticorruptionnz's Blog 