All New Zealand councils are grappling with infrastructure deficits, housing, climate change, three waters and freshwater. Photo / Michael Craig
All New Zealand councils are grappling with infrastructure deficits, housing, climate change, three waters and freshwater. Photo / Michael Craig
OPINION
With the general election under our collective belts it's about time New Zealand had a conversation about the future.
No, not the inevitable 100-day plan or how the ministerial portfolios are divvied up, but about local government.
Given that local government occupies a rather conflicted position in NewZealand's psyche - as we utterly rely on it but don't always appreciate it - this will be a difficult conversation. However, it's one we need to have.
Local authorities are the tier of government that are closest to the people, and we all rely on them in order to live our lives on an everyday basis. Be it roads, water, libraries, planning, placemaking, economic development or environmental protection, the measure of success is we largely don't even notice these services.
It is only when things go wrong that the public pays attention. That's absolutely appropriate, but even then it's important to look at how things go wrong.
If a single council gets something wrong or a wheel comes off, it's on the council, and fair cop. At the same time, if we're seeing the same rear driver's side wheel come off due to the same failing lug nut - i.e. the same problem playing out across the country - it's a strong sign the problem has more to do with the system than any individual council.
Let's take a look at some of the issues that featured highly in the election, particularly as they relate to local government: infrastructure deficits, housing, climate change, three waters and freshwater. All these problems are playing out in every council across the country, which is a clear sign we have a problem with the system.
The difficult conversation we as Local Government New Zealand want to have with the incoming Government is how do we fix the system local government operates in?
The first step is realising New Zealand can't continue to operate with two separate government systems failing to work cohesively together. The decisions made by central government affect local councils across the spectrum of its briefs, and vice versa, and often have perverse effects.
Take immigration. Successive governments have fuelled New Zealand's population growth, but while happy to reap the tax benefits, have given very little consideration to the infrastructure costs imposed by loose immigration settings.
The result is local government's ability to deal with growth issues has failed to keep pace.
Whether releasing land, incentivising growth or funding and developing infrastructure or providing social housing, the rules under which local government toils have not been adjusted to match.
Quite simply, the balance is out of whack.
To attempt to find some balance, we need to think of Government in New Zealand as a single system, where top-down decision-making and resourcing meets bottom-up experience and democratic – or community - direction. We know this works because in the rare instances in New Zealand's history where it has been tried, it has delivered brilliantly.
Take the Covid-19 crisis as an example. The necessity to put aside our differences in the face the pandemic meant we rolled up our collective sleeves and got on with furloughing five million Kiwis in their homes for close to two months.
By teaming up through the levels of lockdown, both tiers of government ensured essential lifeline services such as our drinking water, rubbish collection and wastewater services continued, while those most vulnerable in our communities got the targeted care they needed.
Once out of lockdown, hearing the infrastructure-led recovery call from central government, councils have worked to ensure they're either contributing by bringing their investment programmes forward, or by providing regulatory services that enable development.
Stuart Crosby. Photo / Andrew Warner
So, back to the difficult conversation about the future of local government. Why can't we have a Covid-like partnership that delivers for New Zealanders all the time? This isn't about amalgamation or re-drawing the council boundary lines, but how we meaningfully work together to deliver our respective strengths.
This is something we touched on in the LGNZ 2020 General Election Manifesto on lgnz.co.nz, which called for an appropriate balance between local and central decision-making, something LGNZ calls "democratic well-being".
It will take major compromise – and a genuine focus on understanding each other's strengths - from central government, but also from councils. Change is always uncomfortable but we're up for it. Is central government and, even more importantly, is the public ready to have this difficult conversation?
• Stuart Crosby is president of Local Government New Zealand and a current Bay of Plenty Regional councillor.
