The Auckland Council intends to hold a debate and a vote on Thursday on whether to oppose exploratory oil drilling in an area of seabed off the west coast. Is this really part of its job? Not so long ago, the same council spent quite some time debating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. What does the council think it is doing?
Aucklanders, like the rest of New Zealand, elect a Parliament to debate issues of national interest and a government to make decisions on these issues. The Government receives information and advice from an apolitical public service maintained at public expense. Aucklanders who did not vote for one of the parties in power have their views well represented by a range of other parties in Parliament. MPs are well paid to keep themselves briefed on matters of national importance and to subject Government decisions to critical scrutiny, which they do with a vengeance. So why do any Auckland Council members imagine we need their expertise in these matters, or their political opinions on them?
Auckland's council is not alone among local bodies in presuming to pass judgment on subjects beyond its competence. Fourteen councils around the country have spent time discussing the TPP. Even some of Auckland's local boards have got into the act. All claim to be concerned the trade agreement could lead to increased costs for local government and constraints on what they do. If costs are their real concern, they could start by attending to those within their task and spending less of their paid meeting time on national concerns.
Offshore oil drilling is closer to home and councils may have been invited to express a view on permits such as those being considered for a large area of the continental shelf west of the North Island. But when councils are consulted on these projects, they should confine themselves to details of direct interest to their locality. It is not their role to debate the national or global implications of oil exploration in general.
Local government bodies ought to be so busy on the problems of their own patches that they are embarrassed to become another debating chamber for issues beyond their boundaries.
