Margaret Murray-Benge: Western Bay councillor on the council leaving Local Government New Zealand

Local Government New Zealand's suffered another loss, as Western Bay of Plenty District Council quits. 

It's accused LGNZ of being too left-wing, unprofessional and unresponsive to the views of councils. 

Local Government New Zealand says its decision-making process is based on input from mayors, chief executives and councillors. 
 
Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge says it will save the council money. 

LISTEN ABOVE

Note: In the interview - Murray-Benge claimed leaving LGNZ would save the council $180,000. LGNZ says the membership was $63,000 for the 2024/25 year and would've been $70,000 for the following year. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Another council is pulled out of Local Government New Zealand.
Western Bay of Western Bay of Plenty District Council is
the latest. They've narrowly voted to leave the organization. Quite
a few others have done this already. Auckland has done it.
Christ which have done it. They've given a big no
to l G and Z. Margaret Murray bene is the
Western Bay of Plenty District Council Council issues with me now, Margaret,

(00:24):
Good evening.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hi, Ryan. I don't know what it's doing at your place,
but it's pouring down here into Ranga and it's most
welcome rain. Oh, most welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well it is. I'm in Auckland and I've just looked
out the window for the first time and it's it's
overcast but not raining here Margaret.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh, well, it's hosing out and it's really good news.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good and you've been Yes, you've been giving a bit
of a hosing down to the Local Government New Zealand
in your meeting.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yes, and rightly so. I think from my experience when
the Local Government Association supported the Three Waters Reform under
the previous government, they actually sold local government out because
they weren't interested in listening to what we said. They

(01:14):
were just going ahead with what the government wanted, and
so that's when I really lost faith in them. And
I've had a lot of experience in local government down
on Grastchurch, so for me it was something that I
really it's not what local government New Zealand supposed to be.
It's supposed to be a coordination of all councils and

(01:36):
they're supposed to reflect the needs of the councils. But
this one is not doing its job, and so I
fully supported a move to withdraw that.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Margaret, what about the fact that other councils disagree with you?
And you know it's a member organization, so it has
to represent all of you, correct, So it can't just
represent your views, Margaret, No, it.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Doesn't represent my views, but it does represent all views.
And so, for example, with the co they weren't interested
in how it affected the rate payers when they introduced
the three Waters with co governance, the people who were
paying were our rate payers, and yet their rights were

(02:22):
being taken away by the previous government by having a
co governance unelected people or unaccountable people being appointed. So
it was just not the right thing to do. That's
not what local government should be about. So anyhow, not
only us, but Auckland, Greymouth, Kuiper, as you said, West

(02:44):
Coast Regional Council, Westland and christ Church and so there
is a growing move that that's not reflecting how council
should operate.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
And what are you saving, Margaret? What were your subs.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Save? About one hundred and eighty something thousand, and then
there's about sixteen thousand from our community boards and there
are other costs that come with it. We're not a
large council. Our population is just over fifty thousand, and
so it's anything you can do to save money reflects

(03:21):
back into the rate demand. But the interesting thing, Ryan
is we've got these wonderful members of parliament now under
Karen McNulty, the previous Minister of Local Government under the
last government. Give him his credit. He came and visited
every council in the country and I admired him for that.

(03:43):
And when he met with us, he didn't meet with
the mayor, he met with the councilors and I thought
that was a great step for all.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
That's lovely. Margaret's still reigning outside.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yes, it definitely is brilliant.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Most welcome. Thank you very much for being with me.
I appreciate your time. That's my Margaret Murray Bench. She's
Western boy Plenty District councilor For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio