Councillor Austin Clears Legal Hurdle | Auckland News

Auckland News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Aug 25, 2026 · 1m

Nelson City Councillor Lisa Austin is staying in her seat after a legal and political storm over her family’s trucking business supplying council contractors — a situation that nearly forced her to step down or face prosecution. The controversy erupted when the Audit Office initially refused to approve her pre-election contracts, citing the $100K threshold for council contracts — a limit recently raised. But after reviewing the facts, they concluded it wasn’t in the public interest to act, and granted her an exception: her business had no formal agreements, operated on a call-and-charge…