Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has slammed the Government’s treatment of local councils, saying Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s “lambasting” of council leaders this week was “cheap and petty politics”.
Local government leaders from around the country have gathered in Wellington this week for the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference.
Hipkins spoke at the conference on Friday, saying the coalition Government was more focused on “apportioning blame” than addressing the funding and infrastructure challenges councils face.
“You deserve a respectful partnership with central government and I’m sorry you didn’t get that this week,” he said.
Luxon honed in on council spending during his speech at the conference, urging local government leaders to focus on the basics, like rubbish collection, pipe repairs and filling potholes.
Hipkins hit back, saying it was “all very well to describe a community swimming pool as a nice-to-have when you have your own pool in the backyard, but the majority of our local residents aren’t that privileged”.
“You might not value the local playground if you can afford to buy your kids whatever experiences they want, but most hard-working parents can’t do that,” he said.
“You might not think a library is a core service when you can afford to buy whatever books you want, but not all of our local residents can do that.”
Luxon did not put public facilities like swimming pools or playgrounds on the “nice to have” list during this speech, but Hipkins later told reporters that by directing councils to focus on “fixing the pipes and nothing else”, facilities like pools and parks would inevitably become nice-to-haves.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins during a media stand-up after his Local Government NZ conference speech. Photo / Julia Gabel
“Councils will tell you this, they’ve got swimming pools that are nearing the end of their life and they’re having to make choices between replacing the swimming pool or fixing the pipes. These are the very real decisions that councils are making every day.”
In response to Hipkins’ comments, Luxon said the message he wanted to send to councils at the conference was to prioritise their projects and ensure they were within budget. He called Hipkins “out of touch”, saying he should spend more time speaking to ratepayers.
Luxon said ratepayers were “doing it incredibly tough” and he wanted to see councils doing “the things that make the most amount of difference for the most amount of ratepayers in the fastest possible time”.
“People are paying their rates bills, actually many of them this week, it’s incredibly expensive and they actually have councils that have been spending money on things that aren’t as important as other things and I’m just asking them to prioritise and manage their budgets appropriately.”
Labour’s local government spokesman Kieran McAnulty also took aim at Luxon for not partaking in an on-stage interview or debate with MC Kim Hill after his speech, as Hipkins and himself had done.
“He came in and told these people off and then buggered off,” McAnulty said.
Labour's spokesman for Local Government, Kieran McAnulty. Photo / Mark Mitchell
During the conference, the Government also announced a new regional deals scheme where central government would invite up to five regions to provide proposals for long-term projects.
Regional deals are long-term agreements between local government and central governments, with the initial projects expected to be focused on economic growth and productivity, critical infrastructure, and affordable, good-quality housing.
This move has been welcomed by LGNZ president Sam Broughton, who said the Government was ready to work collaboratively.
Hipkins also addressed the new Māori wards legislation, which requires councils with Māori wards that were set up since 2020 to hold a binding referendum to determine whether the wards remain or are scrapped.
During the Select Committee hearing at Parliament, many councils voiced strong opposition to the policy, saying it was discriminatory, expensive and an overstep of central government powers. Councils themselves will need to fund the referendums.
This week more than 80% of councils voted at a Local Government NZ (LGNZ) meeting to push back against the new polling rules for Māori wards.
During his speech, Hipkins said central government should respect local councils’ decision to have a Māori ward, like it does when councils decide to establish or abolish a general or rural ward, a community board or a ward committee.
Speaking to reporters after his speech, Hipkins would not say directly whether Labour would change the law back if they were in power after the next election but that ”we opposed the Government’s law change and we continue to oppose it”.
Hipkins also announced there would be “no more unfunded mandates” if Labour were re-elected to government at the next election.
“If we are asking councils to do more, then we need to talk to councils about how that is funded.”
One option could be a direct contribution from central government, he said.
“That’s a bit that I think all governments, Labour or National, have not done in recent decades. And I think it’s one of the reasons that councils do have quite a lot of their work that they’re struggling to fund.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
