Councils up and down the country are dealing with momentous issues that will impact all communities across New Zealand as well as paradigm-shifting reforms. Photo / Bevan Conley, File
Councils up and down the country are dealing with momentous issues that will impact all communities across New Zealand as well as paradigm-shifting reforms. Photo / Bevan Conley, File
OPINION:
Local government has always been at the coalface of some of society's hairiest and most pressing problems as we work for, and with, our communities.
But this year is exceptional, with some momentous issues on the table that will impact all communities across New Zealand and a menu ofparadigm-shifting reform.
When 700 people from across the sector – mayors and chairs and officials – come together in the coming week in Marlborough, there will undoubtedly be robust and frank debate.
The Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference is always a highly anticipated event, but this is the first post-lockdown gathering of this scale and comes at a time when there is a large (and very much live) question-mark hanging over the extent to which councils will be able to remain at this coalface.
The current Government is pushing through a significant amount of legislative change that could dramatically change the role of local authorities and how local communities are heard and involved in issues that matter to them.
In the Three Waters area, the Government is looking to take delivery of drinking, waste and storm water services from councils and vest this responsibility in four mega water services entities.
In the Resource Management space, the recently released exposure draft of the Natural and Built Environment Act looks to reduce the number of plans in our country from more than 100 to 14, but leaves blank the challenging issue of local democratic accountability and the role of councils.
The Future for Local Government review is also looking at the role of councils over the next 30 years, knowing full well this work will be shaped by the Three Waters and Resource Management reforms.
This is to say nothing of the other system changes, such as district health board mergers, climate change legislation, and building and construction sector reform that don't directly relate to council operations but still impact on their role.
Factor in the pace at which these changes are being rammed through Parliament, and the trend towards greater centralisation of decision-making, and you can understand why councils are understandably nervous.
Seen through a particular lens, putting 700 local government people together at this time has the potential to be a real powder-keg looking for a spark.
That is not the lens I choose to look through.
As much as our sector feels under the pump from what seems like a deliberate choice by the Government to change just about everything at the same time, we have known for a long time that the status quo is not working. More than that – we're clinging on by our fingernails in many areas, desperately in need of change to enable us to do a better job for our communities.
The Resource Management Act has simultaneously failed the environment and put a handbrake on our ability to build much-needed houses. Decades of system failure have created a nearly unbridgeable infrastructure gap in the Three Waters space. And we've long known that the infrastructure-heavy duties of council, as set out in legislation, have constrained local authorities back from being more active in promoting the wellbeing of communities.
Stuart Crosby. Photo / Supplied
Indeed, in one form or another, LGNZ has been advocating for resource management, Three Waters and local government reform for at least the past decade. Despite all the challenges, councils have been delivering a strong value proposition for their communities.
Now we've got three tigers by the tail, my advice to the sector is don't let go.
Put another way, we're heartened the Government wants to have a real partnership discussion with councils on how to progress their major reform programme – and we will not waste it.
The key to doing this will be starting from "what impact will it have on my community?" rather than "what impact will it have on my council?" After all, isn't this why most of us opted to take on challenging but rewarding roles in local government?
When we come together at the conference, my clarion call to all attendees – whether they are elected local government members or central government officials – will be to seize this opportunity to do the best that we can for communities. Our common cause will always be for the public good, and I see this as the only pathway that central and local government can walk together to make collective impact.
• Stuart Crosby is the president of Local Government New Zealand.
