John MacDonald: The alternative to ditching regional councils

You know how at work you can get people leaving and, instead of hiring new people, they just dish out the work to other people?

Then it gets to the point where the other people look up and realise they’re overworked, overloaded, and burnt out. 

I wonder if that’s how mayors around the country are feeling about the prospect of them not only running their own councils but taking over their local regional council, as well. 

That’s what the Government is proposing, with the ultimate aim of pretty much getting rid of regional councils as we know them. 

Which I think is the wrong way of going about it. I think the Government should instead be focussing on all the other councils we’ve got. We have 67 local authorities in New Zealand. So work on having less city and district councils because that’s where the genuine overlap and duplication happens. 

But the Government sees this as an easier sell. I know that from hearing Local Government Minister Chris Bishop say that people have got no idea what regional councils do, so let’s get rid of them. 

I think it would be very easy for me to fall into the trap of cheering the Government on on this front because —trust me— I’m in no doubt that we have too many local councils. But I’m not cheering on this proposal because, in the long run, I don’t think it’s going to mean much. 

If it was me telling the Government what should happen, I’d be saying unitary authorities are the way to go, which are basically councils that are regional councils and city or district councils all rolled into one. 

Because why does somewhere the size of Timaru, for example, have two councils? The district council and the regional council. It shouldn’t. 

That’s why I think the Government is all a bit backside-about-face on this one and should be focussing on us having less of the smaller councils and keeping the regional councils. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from news Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know how it work. You can sometimes get people
leaving and instead of hiring new people that dish out
the work to other people, and then it gets to
the point where the other people look up and realize
that they're overworked. They're overloaded and burnt out. I wonder
if that's how me is around the country are feeling

(00:33):
this morning about the prospect of them not only running
their own councils, but taken over their local regional council
as well. We do you reckon, because that's what the
government's proposing, that's what is wanting, with the ultimate aim
of pretty much getting rid of regional councils as we
know as we know them gone, which I think is

(00:55):
the wrong way of going about it. I think the
government should instead be focusing on all the other councils
we've got, because we've got sixty seven local authorities in
his Zeland four of them and the Greater christ Church
Area four of them. So work on having less city
and district councils. That's what I'm saying, because that's where

(01:16):
the genuine overlap and duplication happens. But the government sees
this as an easier sell. And I note that I
know that from listening to Local Government Minister Chris Bishop
this morning saying to Mike that people have got they've
got no idea what regional councils do, so let's just
get rid of the main They've got no idea. But

(01:38):
think about it. Just because you might not know what
the likes of ECAN does on a regular basis, you
might not know what all the people working there do
on a daily basis, is that a good enough reason
to get rid of it, to get rid of them?
Of course it's not. And you know, I think it
would be very easy for me to fall into the

(01:58):
trap of chairing the government on on this front, because
trust me, I'm in no doubt that we have two
many local councils, too many. But I'm not cheering on
this proposal because in the long run, I don't think
it's going to mean cheaper rates. Getting rid of regional
councils is not going to make life cheaper for us.

(02:20):
I mean, I agree with Chris Bishop when he sees
the currency and up makes no sense. Here's a little
bit of what he said to Mike about that this morning.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Those big issues around you know, how are we managing
the catchments and the rivers in our particular area, how
we doing public transport, those big issues around land use
planning and resource Management's going to introduce spatial planning so
we can look out over the next thirty fifty years
and look at our corridors that we want to protect
for future road and rail and the areas we don't

(02:49):
want to build on, for example. Those quite a big things.
It doesn't make sense to have two different types of
local government structures doing that stuff, and so we're giving
regions in areas an opportunity to have a good look
at that.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And what he's talking about there, the good look at
that bit is the two years the government want to
give local mayors, once they're running their local regional council
as well as running their own council, two years to
come up with a proposal on how local government should
be structured in their areas, which if the government doesn't
like it'll say so.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
We'll say to people, listen, you come up with the model.
You've got clear criteria to meet, and if you don't
do it, we'll do it for you, but at least
in the interim you can come up with it and
we'll give you a name.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Now, I'll tell you what. Well, if it was me
telling the government what should happen, I'd be saying unit
tree authorities are the way to go.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
These are basically councils that are regional councils and city
or district councils all rolled into one. So under my
view of the world or my plan, you'd keep e
can and get rid of the others. Because why does
some wear the size of timidu for example? Why do
they have two councils, the district council and the regional council.

(03:58):
Well they shouldn't and that's why I think the government's
all a bit backside about face. That's a polite way
of putting it backside about face on this one, and
should be focusing on us having less of the smaller councils,
less city and less district councils, but keep the regional councils.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
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