Nelson councillor Lisa Austin has received approval from the Auditor-General over her financial interests that previously landed her in hot water.
The first-term councillor earlier faced a vote about whether she should keep her seat after the Auditor-General formed the opinion that she was legally unable to have been elected.
But the Auditor-General has adjusted their opinion after receiving new information and, on Monday, granted Austin retrospective approval for her financial interests in her company.
Austin told Local Democracy Reporting she was grateful to her lawyer and the council for working together to iron out the issue.
“I am relieved the issues concerning eligibility to serve as a councillor at Nelson City Council have now all been resolved, which allows me to focus on giving back to the city I love,” she said.
Chief executive Nigel Philpott said the council welcomes the determination.
“I am pleased the new information provided by Lisa to the Audit Office has satisfied their concerns and enabled them to grant the relevant approvals.”
The council had always wished to avoid a by-election, and the approval allows the council to “move forward with confidence”, Philpott added.
“This is the outcome we were all working towards.”
Austin co-owns a haulage company, Austin Transport Tippers, with her husband, which provides its services to contractors, some of which work on council projects.
When she ran for election, legislation prohibited anyone with financial interests that exceeded $25,000, including GST, in a company contracting or subcontracting to the council from standing.
The law has since changed to increase the limit to $100,000 excluding GST, though Local Democracy Reporting understands that Austin’s interests still exceeded the increased threshold when she ran.
When Nelson City Council first applied for retrospective approval of her financial interests in November 2025, it held the opinion that the exemptions outlined within the Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 did not apply to Austin.
Having then been advised by the council that the exemptions did not apply, the Auditor-General formed the view that Austin had been ineligible to stand for election and was therefore unable to serve as a councillor.
The Audit Office was then obliged to investigate prosecuting Austin.
Though it eventually decided that prosecution was not in the public interest, it retained the view that she could not sit on the council.
Despite that conclusion, Nelson’s elected members affirmed her position around the table in June, which led to the resignation of the independent members of the council’s Audit, Risk, and Finance Committee.
However, after the council became aware of further details around Austin Transport Tippers’ subcontracting arrangements, it subsequently concluded that Section 3(3)(f) of the Act did exempt her from the contracting rule.
That exemption was for cases where the contracts had fixed payments and were already completed.
Austin Transport Tippers holds no formal subcontracting arrangements with council contractors.
Instead, work is conducted under multiple subcontracts that are each formed when contractors call Austin Transport Tippers to request its services for the following day, with work charged at the company’s usual rates.
As such, each day’s haulage work constituted a separate subcontract.
The Auditor-General has since agreed with the council about the exemption, which means they no longer hold the opinion that Austin is barred from office.
“Nelson City Council subsequently applied for retrospective approval of contracts made after the election, and the Auditor-General has granted that approval,” the Audit Office said.
The office added that the council remains responsible for complying with the law and for its own decision-making processes.
Austin does not sit on Nelson City Council’s Tenders Committee, and the council was not involved in the selection of haulage service providers used by its contractors.
She would need to seek approval from the Auditor-General again in the future should her interests exceed $100,000 excluding GST in another financial year.
