Hello Alex, the Clutha District Council does open its council meeting with a prayer (copy attached). The practice has been in place since amalgamation in 1989. The council has not considered whether the practice should be abolished. The council has not had any advice about the prayer's compatibility with the Human Rights Act of Bill of Rights Act.

Please contact me if you require any further information.

Regards
Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[FYI contact email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 10 April 2012 11:57 a.m.
To: HelpDesk
Subject: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request: Does the Clutha District Council begin its meetings with a prayer?

Dear Clutha District Council,

As you may have read recently, the Whanganui District Council
abolished its opening prayer after a complaint was made to the
Human Rights Commission. I'm interested in learning how widespread
this practice is, so I'd like to request the following information
under the LGOIMA:

* Does the Council open its meetings with a prayer? * If the answer
to the above is "yes", then I'd like a copy of that prayer (or
examples, if more than one is used), when the practice was first
established, whether the council has considered abolishing it in
the wake of the Whanganui decision, and any advice the council may
hold on the prayer's compatibility with both the Human Rights Act
1993 and Bill of Rights Act 1990.

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about
this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the
fyi.org.nz website.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

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