Residents at Little River are questioning why Lake Forsyth wasn't opened to the sea before flooding devastated their homes. They want answers from Christchurch City Council. Good luck getting them.

Christchurch City Council refuses 24% of Official Information Act requests tracked by FYI.org.nz. That's six out of every 25 requests. Worst in the country. (Source: FYI.org.nz (OIA tracker), oia-agency-transparency)

Think about what that means. One in four times someone asks the council for information they're legally entitled to, the council says no. Not "we need more time." Not "we're working on it." Just no.

The contrast is stark. New Zealand Police, an agency dealing with sensitive investigations and national security concerns, refuse just 8% of OIA requests. The Department of Conservation, managing vast tracts of public land and complex environmental decisions, refuses 20%. But your local council, making decisions about drainage and flood management? One in four.

This matters right now because Christchurch residents are living through the consequences of decisions they can't scrutinise. Lake Forsyth floods. Tower Insurance expects weather claims to nearly halve their profits. Someone knew the lake needed opening. Someone made the call to wait. And when residents ask why, there's a one-in-four chance the council will refuse to tell them.

You can see every refused request yourself. Christchurch City Council's FYI page shows exactly what they're declining to answer. Planning decisions. Infrastructure spending. Environmental assessments. The kind of information that tells you whether your council saw flooding coming and chose to do nothing.

The OIA exists for moments like this. When the water rises and homes flood and residents demand answers, they're supposed to get them. That's the deal. Councils make decisions with public money about public infrastructure, and the public gets to see the reasoning.

Christchurch City Council is breaking that deal more often than almost anyone else. And right now, as residents wade through flood water wondering why nobody opened the lake, that 24% refusal rate isn't just a statistic. It's the space where accountability goes to die.