Audience torpedoes 'go faster' speech

Local Government Minister Rodney Hide went to his sector's annual conference with the message "make the boat go faster". What he struck was rough waters and a few verbal torpedoes from the people he represents.

Far from wanting to go faster, many of the almost 600 delegates at the Local Government New Zealand conference want him to drop the anchor on Auckland's Super City, and reforms to the wider local government sector, such as confining councils' spending to the basic services.

Mr Hide told the conference in Christchurch: "I have heard loud and clear the concern over rate increases, red tape, unacceptable delays and bureaucratic bungling. We need to do much better".

While delegates listened politely as Mr Hide delivered his speech - including the boating analogies about improving the economy - things heated up when he took questions from the audience.

Waitakere City deputy mayor Penny Hulse told the minister it was interesting that his core principle seemed to be making the boat go faster "because at the moment it's heading headlong into a sandbank as far as we can see".

North Shore mayor Andrew Williams, who introduced himself to Mr Hide as "one of your greatest supporters - not", called the minister a "bully" intent on bulldozing through changes, who would end up a "sacrificial lamb" for his policies when the Government "properly put the boat on a true, straight course".

Mr Hide won applause when he replied: "I have faced electoral oblivion many times in my career. And one day it will happen. That's politics. But in the meantime I'm very clear about my motive, and every day I am giving it my best. So I won't feel bad, because I couldn't have done anything more".

Mike Mora, of Christchurch's Riccarton-Wigram Community Board, told Mr Hide it was the short timeframes for the reforms that everyone was worried about.

Mr Hide said he was working to a three-year "horizon", and had to get things sorted with Auckland's Super City in time for elections next year.

"I think in some respects I have acted too slow. I'm very conscious that the costs are there now, and we are in some tough times and I think we need to address it."

Speaking to media afterwards, Mr Hide said the criticisms didn't bother him.

"In fact I think local government people have appreciated that I have put local government a bit on the map by being a high-profile minister. And there's a lot of support for what I am doing. Obviously there's some concerns because I'm very keen to get costs under control and they worry what that means."