Philippa Branthwaite
Chair Eastern Bay of Plenty branch of NZ Labour Party

The coalition government is forcing district councils to amalgamate because they have decided it will stop future rate increases.

These amalgamations will not achieve that. The potential with this fast-track process is to add to the decline in the quality of our democracy, with the concentration of decision-making power in the larger centres.

The issue of rate increases is connected to appropriate funding of infrastructure, including freshwater, waste, storm water, local roads, and building and maintaining resilience. Councils no matter what their size cannot fund these from rates alone.

The coalition government is using local government reform as a smokescreen for refusing to look at alternative funding models for local infrastructure.

Our council has to decide which neighbouring councils to amalgamate with and do this within three months.

The time frame is ridiculous; it does not allow for consultation with the community or to do a thorough examination of what would be best for Whakatāne.

This is on top of requiring mayors to work out a way to replace regional councils which cover in our case, Rotorua, Tauranga, Whakatāne, Kawerau, Ōpōtiki and Edgecumbe.

Although there is a need for local government reform, there are real concerns about the lack of local voice and meaningful democratic engagement with communities through this process.

District council amalgamations and regional council restructuring should proceed only after wide community consultation and careful analysis of the costs and benefits.

Local governance structural reform should be locally led, with strong community consultation as part of that process.

Any reform process must be transparent, properly consulted on, and allow communities sufficient time to engage and have their say.

The Labour Party rejects the extremely short three-month timeframe set down by the National, NZ First, Act government for this process.

The Labour Party’s focus remains on ensuring that any reforms to local government deliver better outcomes without undermining local voice, accountability, or democratic input.