![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/former-lakeland-queen-co-owner-terry-hammond-EUTZVNLWUVGWVGP2P6PIZYAAKI.png\")
<\/p>\nThe Rotorua Lakes Council will publicly apologise for rejecting a Lakeland Queen petition three years ago, after accepting the Ombudsman\u2019s finding that this was unreasonable.<\/p>\n
The decision came after councillor Robert Lee presented a notice of motion to accept the Ombudsman\u2019s final opinion, apologise, and invite petitioner Terry Hammond to a future council meeting to address elected members for five minutes.<\/p>\n
The motion was carried at Wednesday\u2019s council meeting with all councillors voting in favour except Karen Barker and Gregg Brown.<\/p>\n
Lee said Hammond \u2013 who owned and operated the Lakeland Queen tourism business for more than three decades until it was forced into hibernation during the Covid-19 pandemic \u2013 approached him in late 2023 with concerns about how council had dealt with the vessel and its future at the redeveloped Rotorua lakefront.<\/p>\n
Hammond was disputing requirements to fund a replacement jetty before the historical paddle steamer could resume operations, and was also facing efforts to remove the vessel from its dry-dock site.<\/p>\n
Lee advised Hammond to submit a petition to council.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Former Lakeland Queen co-owner Terry Hammond. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
The petition, which attracted hundreds of signatures, was intended to be submitted to the council\u2019s infrastructure and environment committee in December 2023 but was rejected as being out of scope.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe prepared his petition, he got hundreds of signatures, and I was surprised \u2013 dismayed, actually \u2013 when our council refused to accept his petition,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was claimed that it was outside the scope of council, which I found baffling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like the Lakeland Queen jetty is found in the Chatham Islands or something.\u201d<\/p>\n
That month, Lee lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman challenging the decision. On June 29 this year, Chief Ombudsman John Allen issued his final opinion, finding the petition was within council\u2019s remit and that the decision to decline it had been unreasonable.<\/p>\n
Addressing councillors, Lee described the finding as an opportunity to \u201cright a historical wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would ask that we do the right thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, Hammond welcomed the council\u2019s decision and the opportunity to finally address elected members directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very respectful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hammond declined to elaborate on the specific points he intended to raise when addressing councillors, saying he preferred to reserve those comments for the meeting.<\/p>\n
He indicated an intention to raise questions about the flow of information between council staff and elected members during the Lakeland Queen saga.<\/p>\n
Chief executive Andrew Moraes told councillors that the council eventually received the petition in question in April 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was subsequently received and approved by myself,\u201d he said. Moraes was not at Rotorua Lakes Council at the time of Hammond\u2019s initially rejected petition.<\/p>\n
Moraes said the Ombudsman had also recognised that council\u2019s later decision to accept the petition was the correct one.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/the-lakeland-queen-was-dry-docked-at-sulphur-pt-for-years-af-IYOFNWEPDBFHVAZ5WULD2J2AWA.png\")
<\/p>\n
The Lakeland Queen was dry-docked at Sulphur Pt for years after the business went into hibernation during Covid. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Lee acknowledged the petition had later been received but said it was presented by the Save Our Iconic Lakeland Queen group, rather than Hammond himself, using the same wording and signatories as Hammond\u2019s original.<\/p>\n
That meant Hammond never received the opportunity to personally address councillors about the petition he originally lodged in December 2023, Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really intended to give Terry his first opportunity to address us, as he should have been able to in December 2023,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Tania Tapsell said she was \u201cperfectly comfortable\u201d issuing an apology. This was despite the Ombudsman not recommending one as the circumstances surrounding the Lakeland Queen had \u201cmoved on considerably\u201d since the original decision.<\/p>\n
Hammond\u2019s company went into liquidation in 2024, and he sold the paddle boat. It resumed cruise operations under the new ownership and is now being offered for sale again.<\/p>\n
Tapsell said it was the right move to \u201cwrap up\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n
She said she also supported inviting Hammond to speak at a future council meeting.<\/p>\n
Hammond would be invited to appear before councillors and give a five-minute address at the next full council meeting on September 23.<\/p>\n
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rotorua Lakes Council will publicly apologise for rejecting a Lakeland Queen petition three years ago, after accepting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,1756,10097],"class_list":["post-578715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}