August 22, 2024 • 11 mins
Council leaders from around the country have met in a convention centre that the Prime Minister thinks is an example of wasteful spending and is just down the road from a burst water main that has turned a street into a paddling pool.
The Local Government New Zealand conference was held in Wellington this week at the city’s new $180 million convention centre Takina, and Georgina this week takes us through the highlights - most notably, Christopher Luxon's sharply worded speech about council spending.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kilda and welcome to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
I'm your host Georgina Campbell and this is a local
edition episode. Council leaders from around the country have met
in a convention center that the Prime Minister thinks is
an example of wasteful spending and is just down the
(00:24):
road from a burst water main that has turned a
street into a paddling pool. The Local Government New Zealand
Conference was held in Wellington this week at the city's
new one hundred and eighty million dollar convention center, Tarkena.
I'm going to bring you some of the highlights in
this episode, starting with the fat Prime Minister Christopher Luxen
(00:46):
could not have asked for a better backdrop to deliver
a sharply worded speech about council spending that didn't go
down well with some of Wellington's leaders. Luxon hit back
at council's demanding more funding and support from cent government
while avoiding tightening their own belts. He urged councils to
get back to basics.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Rate Payers expect local government to do the basics, and
to do the basics brilliantly. Pick up the rubbish, fix
the pipes, fill in the potholes and more generally, maintain
the local assets quickly, carefully and cost effectively. But nothing
in life is free, and rate payers therefore expect to
pay for it in exchange. But let me be blunt,
(01:27):
what they don't expect to pay for is a laundry
list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance
sheets across the country.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It just so happened that a burst water main flooded
the road between Vivian Street and Buckle Street in the
Capitol that morning, causing major problems. Luxon obviously couldn't have
planned such a spectacular example of Wellington's water woes. But
even if this particular water main hadn't burst, it wouldn't
be difficult to find a nearby leak to refer to
(01:56):
as a current example. In his speech, situation played well
for him. He also took advantage of the local Government
New Zealand conference location, that being the convention Center. The
audience of mayors from around the country was audibly disgruntled.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think the building that we're in today is a
classic example with pipes bursting, and quite literally this morning,
pipes bursting on the streets not far from here another
infrastructure under pressure. Wellington City Council decided to spend one
hundred and eighty million dollars of rate payers money on
a convention center, which, according to public reporting, is now
losing money. And it looks very nice, and it's great,
(02:35):
and it's very nice for us politicians to have a
wonderful space to make some great speeches in. But can
anyone seriously say that was the right financial decision or
the highest possible priority for Wellington given all of its challenges.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Tarquina has been criticized as a white elephant. A recent
report revealed the convention center is not performing as well
as was hoped, partly due to a decline in government
events in the capitol. Takena's net position was last reported
as being down one point two million dollars compared with
the budget now. To be fair to Wellington City Council,
(03:11):
the convention center is from former Mayor Justin Lester's era,
and this is when water pipes were not making headlines.
The unseen network of pipes sprawling in the shadows beneath
the city was catapulted into the spotlight at the end
of twenty nineteen, and this was when six point five
million liters of wastewater spewed into Wellington's harbor after a
(03:35):
critical tunnel collapsed under the CBD, and really the rest
is history now. Luxon also had some announcements to make,
two of which were particularly interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Cabinet has agreed to investigate performance benchmarks for local councils,
similar to the approach that some Australian states apply for
their local authorities.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And in theory, the Local.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Government Act establishes the accountability of local authorities to the
communities that they serve, but in reality it's difficult to
get consistent, easily accessible and comparable information about how councils
are actually performing. The performance measures we're looking to introduce
are in areas that councils should already be monitoring closely,
such as financial performance and importantly, customer service delivery. But
(04:20):
some light is the best disinfectant that rate payers, and
ratepayers deserve to know exactly what they're getting for their rates.
Cabinet has agreed to investigate options to limit council expenditure
on so called nice to haves. In some Australian states,
you'll be where revenue caps are actually applied to non
core activities to control rate increases. We're interested in how
(04:40):
a similar approach may work here in New Zealand, ensuring
the right balance between rate payers interests and council's financial positions.
And yes, councils need adequate revenue to fund core responsibilities
like roads and rubbish and water, but the value for
money proposition is more questionable in a range of other areas.
Councils need to examine those areas more closely, and I'm
(05:01):
up for any tool like revenue capping that makes them
do so.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So how has Wellington reacted to all of this? In short,
council leaders didn't like it. Green Party Regional councilor Thomas
Nash said Luxeon's speech was one of the most mana diminishing,
paternalistic and visionless speeches to a group of people he
has ever heard. Green Party Wellington City Mildi Ward councilor
(05:27):
Nikoweneda said the government's announcements were an unbelievable overreach.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
The government has decided it's going to give itself the
ability to meddle in the way councils choose to invest
in their local communities and take the sitting making cars
away from elected local representatives. It's as simple as that,
I don't want to care of them talk about localism
ever again.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Man Labor Party Wellington City councilor Ben McNulty posted on
social media that the speech showed that central government was
basically pissed off that their tax cuts have been eaten
by rates increases and their solution is to belittle them instead.
Wellington Meyor Tory Farno said the speech missed the opportunity
to talk about how shared problems could be solved. Instead,
(06:12):
Farno said Luxen punched down, telling counsels to tighten their
own bout before asking for central government support. She said
barking at councils that they need to be better is
tired and unhelpful. Opening the conference before Luxon delivered his remarks,
Farno used the opportunity to deliver her own message.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
As mayor of Wellington and as tongue at the FENUA.
Localism also means that counsels should decide for themselves. On
the use of mardy Ward's we should be able to
(06:53):
decide for ourselves how we honor tatidity or white tonguey
and how we work in partnership with Ewe and Marty.
I agree with those outside Tipapa right now that having
more places for Mary and local government strengthens our democracy
rather than weakens it. I also want to take this
(07:14):
moment to total or our Muori Ward counselors. During this
difficult time.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It was almost like Christopher Luxen played bad cop and
Local government Minister Simeon Brown arrived the following day of
the conference to play good cop.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Sort of.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Brown revealed more about the framework for regional deals. Regional
deals are long term agreements between local government and central
government based on a thirty year vision with negotiated ten
year strategic plans. The government's three priority areas for these
deals are economic growth and productivity, critical infrastructure, and affordable
(07:52):
quality housing. Deals will initially focus on projects which support
these three objectives. Brown said, the way local government and
central government work together will change.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
In the past, central and local governments have often moved
like ships passing in the night, sometimes on parallel courses,
sometimes not, but rarely working together as effectively as our communities,
citizens and constituents deserve. Regional deals mark a historic shift
for New Zealand. For the first time, we will be
coming together to establish a clear plan and the necessary infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Right from the start, the government will invite up to
five regions to provide proposals for regional deals before the
first one is finalized by next year.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Deals will be available to regions through a three step process. Firstly,
our selected regions will receive an expression of interest letter
inviting them to submit high level proposals. Secondly, memorandums of
understanding between Central Government and selective selected regions will confirm
their intention to work together through an MoU and then
(08:58):
thirdly they'll be negotiation between those regions.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Brown warned these proposals should not be glossy documents and
that people have had enough of phantom projects and non delivery.
The government will look at options to support deals like
enabling new user charges, value capture, targeted rates, tolling and
congestion charging, as well as a share of GST for
(09:22):
local government for new housing. The first deals will include
a limited number of five projects. Once deals are finalized,
oversight bodies will be established with independent chairs. Each deal
will have performance indicators against which progress can be assessed regularly.
And if you want to hear more about city deals
(09:43):
or regional deals, we covered this in a previous episode
of On the Tiles Local edition. Local Government New Zealand
President Sam Broughton welcomed the move and said local government
was ready to work collaboratively.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
We do need to make sure that this is available
to all New Zealanders and so over time thinking about
how it's not just one or two places that can
benefit from city and regional deals, but that we see
them available to the country. Obviously there'll be some places
that happened early and that was signaled today with the
government wanted to see things by the end of this year.
And a key thing if we're going to see deals
(10:16):
that are sustainable, they needed to last beyond each term
of government, and so buying a cross party from each
of the political parties so we can actually have these
deals sustain a three year term.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
One of the things that has been identified as a
problem between local government and central government is trust. So
I asked Sam Broughton whether the Prime Minister's comments at
the beginning of the conference, we're a good place to
start in terms of rebuilding that trust.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
I think it's good to hear what the Prime Minister
thinks of local government. That's good to have that direction
but in the end, local governments accountable to its communities
and so the delivery of infrastructure and services to communities
is what's going to matter. And whether you're a taxpayer
or a ratepayer, it's the same communities. These deals today
talk about partnership over and over again, partnership between central
and local government ends EWE and also looking at the
(11:07):
commercial sector being involved in these things. That's the type
of leadership that we need, people coming together to work
for the benefit of New Zealanders.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, we'll have to wait and see as to how
that plays out. Thanks for listening to this episode of
On the Tiles Local edition. For more local politics, news
and opinion, head to ziherld dot co dot NZED. You
can follow this podcast on iHeartRadio or where of it
you get your podcasts. Thanks to my producer Ethan Sells.
(11:34):
This episode was edited by NZME Sound Engineers and you
can catch us again next Friday for more On the Tiles.
Kilda and welcome to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
I'm your host Georgina Campbell and this is a local
edition episode. Council leaders from around the country have met
in a convention center that the Prime Minister thinks is
an example of wasteful spending and is just down the
(00:24):
road from a burst water main that has turned a
street into a paddling pool. The Local Government New Zealand
Conference was held in Wellington this week at the city's
new one hundred and eighty million dollar convention center, Tarkena.
I'm going to bring you some of the highlights in
this episode, starting with the fat Prime Minister Christopher Luxen
(00:46):
could not have asked for a better backdrop to deliver
a sharply worded speech about council spending that didn't go
down well with some of Wellington's leaders. Luxon hit back
at council's demanding more funding and support from cent government
while avoiding tightening their own belts. He urged councils to
get back to basics.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Rate Payers expect local government to do the basics, and
to do the basics brilliantly. Pick up the rubbish, fix
the pipes, fill in the potholes and more generally, maintain
the local assets quickly, carefully and cost effectively. But nothing
in life is free, and rate payers therefore expect to
pay for it in exchange. But let me be blunt,
(01:27):
what they don't expect to pay for is a laundry
list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance
sheets across the country.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It just so happened that a burst water main flooded
the road between Vivian Street and Buckle Street in the
Capitol that morning, causing major problems. Luxon obviously couldn't have
planned such a spectacular example of Wellington's water woes. But
even if this particular water main hadn't burst, it wouldn't
be difficult to find a nearby leak to refer to
(01:56):
as a current example. In his speech, situation played well
for him. He also took advantage of the local Government
New Zealand conference location, that being the convention Center. The
audience of mayors from around the country was audibly disgruntled.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think the building that we're in today is a
classic example with pipes bursting, and quite literally this morning,
pipes bursting on the streets not far from here another
infrastructure under pressure. Wellington City Council decided to spend one
hundred and eighty million dollars of rate payers money on
a convention center, which, according to public reporting, is now
losing money. And it looks very nice, and it's great,
(02:35):
and it's very nice for us politicians to have a
wonderful space to make some great speeches in. But can
anyone seriously say that was the right financial decision or
the highest possible priority for Wellington given all of its challenges.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Tarquina has been criticized as a white elephant. A recent
report revealed the convention center is not performing as well
as was hoped, partly due to a decline in government
events in the capitol. Takena's net position was last reported
as being down one point two million dollars compared with
the budget now. To be fair to Wellington City Council,
(03:11):
the convention center is from former Mayor Justin Lester's era,
and this is when water pipes were not making headlines.
The unseen network of pipes sprawling in the shadows beneath
the city was catapulted into the spotlight at the end
of twenty nineteen, and this was when six point five
million liters of wastewater spewed into Wellington's harbor after a
(03:35):
critical tunnel collapsed under the CBD, and really the rest
is history now. Luxon also had some announcements to make,
two of which were particularly interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Cabinet has agreed to investigate performance benchmarks for local councils,
similar to the approach that some Australian states apply for
their local authorities.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And in theory, the Local.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Government Act establishes the accountability of local authorities to the
communities that they serve, but in reality it's difficult to
get consistent, easily accessible and comparable information about how councils
are actually performing. The performance measures we're looking to introduce
are in areas that councils should already be monitoring closely,
such as financial performance and importantly, customer service delivery. But
(04:20):
some light is the best disinfectant that rate payers, and
ratepayers deserve to know exactly what they're getting for their rates.
Cabinet has agreed to investigate options to limit council expenditure
on so called nice to haves. In some Australian states,
you'll be where revenue caps are actually applied to non
core activities to control rate increases. We're interested in how
(04:40):
a similar approach may work here in New Zealand, ensuring
the right balance between rate payers interests and council's financial positions.
And yes, councils need adequate revenue to fund core responsibilities
like roads and rubbish and water, but the value for
money proposition is more questionable in a range of other areas.
Councils need to examine those areas more closely, and I'm
(05:01):
up for any tool like revenue capping that makes them
do so.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So how has Wellington reacted to all of this? In short,
council leaders didn't like it. Green Party Regional councilor Thomas
Nash said Luxeon's speech was one of the most mana diminishing,
paternalistic and visionless speeches to a group of people he
has ever heard. Green Party Wellington City Mildi Ward councilor
(05:27):
Nikoweneda said the government's announcements were an unbelievable overreach.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
The government has decided it's going to give itself the
ability to meddle in the way councils choose to invest
in their local communities and take the sitting making cars
away from elected local representatives. It's as simple as that,
I don't want to care of them talk about localism
ever again.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Man Labor Party Wellington City councilor Ben McNulty posted on
social media that the speech showed that central government was
basically pissed off that their tax cuts have been eaten
by rates increases and their solution is to belittle them instead.
Wellington Meyor Tory Farno said the speech missed the opportunity
to talk about how shared problems could be solved. Instead,
(06:12):
Farno said Luxen punched down, telling counsels to tighten their
own bout before asking for central government support. She said
barking at councils that they need to be better is
tired and unhelpful. Opening the conference before Luxon delivered his remarks,
Farno used the opportunity to deliver her own message.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
As mayor of Wellington and as tongue at the FENUA.
Localism also means that counsels should decide for themselves. On
the use of mardy Ward's we should be able to
(06:53):
decide for ourselves how we honor tatidity or white tonguey
and how we work in partnership with Ewe and Marty.
I agree with those outside Tipapa right now that having
more places for Mary and local government strengthens our democracy
rather than weakens it. I also want to take this
(07:14):
moment to total or our Muori Ward counselors. During this
difficult time.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It was almost like Christopher Luxen played bad cop and
Local government Minister Simeon Brown arrived the following day of
the conference to play good cop.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Sort of.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Brown revealed more about the framework for regional deals. Regional
deals are long term agreements between local government and central
government based on a thirty year vision with negotiated ten
year strategic plans. The government's three priority areas for these
deals are economic growth and productivity, critical infrastructure, and affordable
(07:52):
quality housing. Deals will initially focus on projects which support
these three objectives. Brown said, the way local government and
central government work together will change.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
In the past, central and local governments have often moved
like ships passing in the night, sometimes on parallel courses,
sometimes not, but rarely working together as effectively as our communities,
citizens and constituents deserve. Regional deals mark a historic shift
for New Zealand. For the first time, we will be
coming together to establish a clear plan and the necessary infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Right from the start, the government will invite up to
five regions to provide proposals for regional deals before the
first one is finalized by next year.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Deals will be available to regions through a three step process. Firstly,
our selected regions will receive an expression of interest letter
inviting them to submit high level proposals. Secondly, memorandums of
understanding between Central Government and selective selected regions will confirm
their intention to work together through an MoU and then
(08:58):
thirdly they'll be negotiation between those regions.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Brown warned these proposals should not be glossy documents and
that people have had enough of phantom projects and non delivery.
The government will look at options to support deals like
enabling new user charges, value capture, targeted rates, tolling and
congestion charging, as well as a share of GST for
(09:22):
local government for new housing. The first deals will include
a limited number of five projects. Once deals are finalized,
oversight bodies will be established with independent chairs. Each deal
will have performance indicators against which progress can be assessed regularly.
And if you want to hear more about city deals
(09:43):
or regional deals, we covered this in a previous episode
of On the Tiles Local edition. Local Government New Zealand
President Sam Broughton welcomed the move and said local government
was ready to work collaboratively.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
We do need to make sure that this is available
to all New Zealanders and so over time thinking about
how it's not just one or two places that can
benefit from city and regional deals, but that we see
them available to the country. Obviously there'll be some places
that happened early and that was signaled today with the
government wanted to see things by the end of this year.
And a key thing if we're going to see deals
(10:16):
that are sustainable, they needed to last beyond each term
of government, and so buying a cross party from each
of the political parties so we can actually have these
deals sustain a three year term.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
One of the things that has been identified as a
problem between local government and central government is trust. So
I asked Sam Broughton whether the Prime Minister's comments at
the beginning of the conference, we're a good place to
start in terms of rebuilding that trust.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
I think it's good to hear what the Prime Minister
thinks of local government. That's good to have that direction
but in the end, local governments accountable to its communities
and so the delivery of infrastructure and services to communities
is what's going to matter. And whether you're a taxpayer
or a ratepayer, it's the same communities. These deals today
talk about partnership over and over again, partnership between central
and local government ends EWE and also looking at the
(11:07):
commercial sector being involved in these things. That's the type
of leadership that we need, people coming together to work
for the benefit of New Zealanders.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, we'll have to wait and see as to how
that plays out. Thanks for listening to this episode of
On the Tiles Local edition. For more local politics, news
and opinion, head to ziherld dot co dot NZED. You
can follow this podcast on iHeartRadio or where of it
you get your podcasts. Thanks to my producer Ethan Sells.
(11:34):
This episode was edited by NZME Sound Engineers and you
can catch us again next Friday for more On the Tiles.
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