Invercargill mayor apologises
Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark has made a second and final public apology at an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday.
The apology related to Clark’s March appearance on television show New Zealand Today, which breached the council’s code of conduct. Clark repeated the “n-word” and insisted host Guy Williams say it. He also used a homophobic slur.
After an extraordinary council meeting on July 26, councillors requested Clark make a “sincere” public apology at a full council meeting. That opportunity came on Tuesday.
“I need to make a public apology, which is a part of the commitment I gave at the end of the code of conduct inquiry into the New Zealand Today TV show that I was party to,” Clark said early in the meeting. So I just wish to acknowledge to my elected colleagues and to the community that by participating the way I did in that interview, that I breached the code of conduct expectations of an elected member and portrayed the city in a very poor light.”
The mayor has not explicitly apologised for his use of language. In April, he apologised in a Stuff article to “anyone who felt offended” by the interview, before providing a written apology for a July meeting, that was read out in his absence, acknowledging he had discredited the city.
He was then requested to make a “sincere” in-person apology.
On July 30, he apologised at a council meeting for breaching the council’s code of conduct at a United Fire Brigades’ Association event in March after allegations in relation to his behaviour at the meeting.