To be an elected leader is a very special privilege. So I work hard to understand the issues, to consider the options and to imagine how a decision made today will benefit future generations.
I have really grappled with the issue of the Head Start process.
I acknowledge the really strong work done by our Mayor and CE and the staff team to try to create a meaningful opportunity out of the circumstance we find ourselves in.
I’m not against local government reform. As a young Councillor of Waitemata City Council, I chaired the transition committee that saw small boroughs such as Glen Eden and New Lynn become part of the new Waitakere City. As a Porirua City Council staff person, I worked on the last round of amalgamation discussions in Wellington. I agree that reform is needed.
Good local government reform however, would start with the right intent and a thoughtfully designed process.
A huge amount of work went into the Future of Local Government Report released in 2023. The findings recommend local government reform to achieve the following things –
-Sustainable funding for local government including the return of GST, local revenue raising and capital grants from government to support climate adaption,
-Devolution of functions to local government to enable local solutions,
-New processes and tools to enable resident participation,
AND
-Explicit recognition of local government as a Treaty partner to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
None of these improvements are guaranteed in the Head Start process – in fact most of them are explicitly excluded.
I know that that our last election question and the recent poll show resident support for amalgamation options. The comments underneath that support, show that most residents are hoping amalgamation will reduce their rates, and lead to more efficient services. What we know, thanks to the Martin Jenkins report is that amalgamation will have minimal impact on the future rates of residents.
We also know that there is no guarantee that larger organisations deliver more efficient services. Our experience with Wellington Water springs to mind, but the NZ Infrastructure Commission looked at this issue in their 2022 report. They found that our local governments are already quite large compared to other high-income countries, highly centralised and consolidated, and poorly funded.
(NZ local governments are the 4th largest in average size in the OECD but only 26% of total capital investment is done by local government in NZ, compared to the OECD average of 49%).
They also found that there is relatively little hard evidence on the impact of local government structure in New Zealand on service performance. Council size is neutral for cost efficiency across the infrastructure categories they researched – size does not increase or decrease efficiency.
My main concern is that I don’t believe this local government reform is intended to improve local democracy for future generations. In the context of the stripping back of environmental protections, Ministerial letters cautioning us against setting climate action measures, the breaching of Treaty obligations, the centralisation of Ministerial powers on fast tracked developments, rates capping, and the rewriting of the local government act to remove community and cultural welling, it’s hard to feel that Head Start is a good faith process. The rushed, forced, process suggests otherwise. The fact that the Minister can ignore our proposal or eliminate elements he doesn’t want, creates all sorts of risks, particularly for our commitment to mana whenua partnership.
I note also that that the detailed design phase runs from October to March – right through the summer holidays when people will be desperate for a break from what has been a grim year for many.
The best reform process for our city would have imagination and vision:
• It would create a leadership structure for our region embedded in Te Tiriti
• It would offer new funding models
• It would create new opportunities for residents and ratepayers to participate in local decision making
• It would prioritise responding to the climate emergency and building the climate resilience of our communities
A week is a long time in politics. It’s possible that this government could have a change of heart or that we could have a change of government. I will work constructively with my colleagues around the table to progress better options for local government where they are available.
I don’t believe that this Head Start process, at this time, in this form, can deliver that.
The iwi leaders through Te Kāhui Whakarehunga have said to us we should look on this “Not as a restructure of Councils but as a chance to build something new”.
I will sign up for that vision and work towards that. I will support reform where it embeds Te Tiriti, enhances local democracy, responds to climate change and improves financial sustainability.
I respect that my colleagues are trying to create something useful out of the chaos of this process. I accept that I might be wrong.
But my vote for the Head Start proposal, given the current context and limits of this process, is no.