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Latest Column
There are many reasons the Coalition should press pause on their local government reforms, but the most important is their fundamentally undemocratic and draconian approach. They are not only disrespecting the wishes of local communities but trampling on their rights to determine how their voices are represented around the decision-making table.
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For all the noise about “simplifying” local government in Northland, one question remains unanswered: where has bigger ever proven better? No one can point to a single example in New Zealand where amalgamation has delivered lower costs, better services, or stronger communities.
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This Month On NZCPR
The bureaucratic architecture driving New Zealand’s climate compliance is, in effect, “gold plated” because government institutions were directed by the Ardern administration to embed extreme modelling assumptions into every level of decision-making.
The retirement of implausible baseline climate scenarios is now starting to have real-world consequences as decision makers realize they’ve been making decisions that have had unnecessary real-world, negative impacts on their constituents and clients.
In this country, the pressure for parallel authority is being driven by iwi leaders, who, thanks to the appeasement policies of successive governments and generous taxpayer funded Treaty settlements, now preside over vast tax‑free business empires. Not only are they replacing “Kiwi culture” with iwi culture - enriching themselves in the process - but they are now attempting to gain constitutional control of New Zealand.
New Zealand cannot afford to keep paying money funding iwi, at either local or government level. It is money people cannot afford, produces nothing, and would be better spent on roads and infrastructure. And in spite of spending more and more money on iwi, the statistics for maori are not improving. Ergo, the stats might improve if the gravy train is cut off and people take responsibility for themselves instead of sticking their hand out.
For decades, New Zealand has been undergoing a quiet constitutional revolution. What was once largely unnoticed is now becoming increasingly visible - so much so that the Coalition Government can no longer ignore it if it hopes to remain in office.
When Governor Hobson on the 6th of February 1840 at the signing of the document between the Crown and some Maori Chiefs uttered the words “now we are one” he was embarking New Zealand on a journey which was without precedent in the history of colonialism.
The battle for local democracy is not over. If the Coalition fails to act decisively, the tribal capture of local government will continue — not because the public wants it, but because too many councils have already been captured by iwi interests. The Coalition has the opportunity to stop it – can People Power convince it to do so?
It is so disappointing that National-led governments have failed to deliver legislation that adequately protects democratic accountability. We can expect unelected individuals or groups to continue to ‘sit at the table’ to vote, influence or intimidate elected councillors, and win all sorts of race-based entitlements, including outright control.
