Dame Kerry Prendergast: Former Mayor of Wellington talks about confidential documents being bought at dump sale

A former Wellington City Mayor has met with the Council CEO after her private papers were among confidential documents found in a desk bought from a dump sale.

A man bought the desk at a city tip-shop and found termination agreements, whistleblower allegations, and staff pay details inside - dating from the 1980s to the 2000s.

The council has launched a investigation and contacted the Privacy Commissioner. 

Dame Kerry Prendergast says it's appalling the documents have gotten out but says the meeting was reassuring. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So guy goes to a tip in Wellington, buys an
old meural office desk and inside in a lot to
draw a case of secret documents, among them staff pay details,
termination documents, a sexual harassment complaint. The papers mostly date
between nineteen eighty eight and the early two thousands. Dame
Kerry Prindergastfa and Wellington MEAs with me now, Dame carry

(00:22):
Good evening.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening, Ryan, Nice to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Nice to talk to you too. Were you surprised that
this happened?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, incredibly surprised. I mean it's a paulen that confidential
papers are out in the puppet domain and the people
I understand that some relate to are still alive, and
I'm very disappointed. One they've gotten to the media and
cercely most importantly, they went clear out of the desk

(00:50):
before it went to the tip.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Have you heard from Wellington City Council at all today,
because they have put out a statement they say they're
doing an internal investigation and they sort of rubbish this.
I Raymond Morgan a little bit saying he didn't tap
them off properly enough or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So I have I have met Worth Matt Prosser, who's
the chief executive, who has assured me a full internal
investigation that happening. They're doing their best to get the
papers back to give people some sense that the private
information will be should be resecured. I understand that the

(01:27):
person who gave them to the media didn't really give
an indication to the course and to adjust the sort
of sensitive information they had. And I have to say, Ryan,
most people I think would have put it in a
box and delivered it to counsel rather than putting it
on a website that gave access to the media too.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, I think that's probably a fair point. Dame Carey,
appreciate your time tonight. Dame Carey Prendergas Formamor of Wellington.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
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