Max Baxter: Ōtorohanga mayor says central Government needs to stop mistreating local Government

Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter is set to wrap up his 12-year term, and he's gotten some criticisms in about central Government before the end.

Baxter says the rhetoric directed at local Government is doing 'way more harm than good' and more teamwork is needed.

"I think it's about time that central Government and local Government work together rather than throwing barbs at each other."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, the outgoing mayor of Uturohunga has had a crack
at central government, saying it needs to stop using local
government as a punching bag. Max bac Max Baxter rather
says his twelve year term has been enjoyable, but he's
sick of the government dumping unfunded mandates on local authorities
with no financial help. And he's with us now. I'm Max,
your cured to Heather, what have you not loved?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Look, it's just getting incredibly challenging out there, and I
think the rhetoric that's been thrown at local government in
recent times is doing way more harm than good. I
think it's about time that central government and local government
work together rather than throwing barbs at each other. And
we've got elections in a few weeks time here now,
and I've seen a lot of elected members, mayors, fellow

(00:41):
elected members that have been under a lot of pressure,
a lot of criticism. There's been death threats, violence threats
against people, and it's not helped by the rhetoric that's
thrown its local government elected members by central government.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
I mean, look, we all want fights to stop and stuff,
but they're going to it's going to happen, isn't. It's
going to continue. So what is it that they I've
ordered you guys to do that's unfunded? That's really got
your goat?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I think we talk about a lot of legislative
requirements and look at a couple of things here that
I think about big brother playing party with us. You know,
stormwater contents alone for us this year are going to
be three hundred thousand dollars for a Toronto District council.
Our auditing fees are two hundred and eighty thousand dollars
for this year. And we keep on looking at those

(01:24):
costs and legislation that comes on us. And I know
the government is talking about it, Minister Bishops talking about
cutting a lot of the red tape and I get that,
but you know, these costs you think about a small
community in a small district, they're incredibly prohibitive when we're
just trying to get things done.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Sounds to me like this local water done well business
is going to be a bit of a stuff up,
is it.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Look Gosh, let's wait and see. I mean it's I
think if a lot of these things, if the money
was actually just given to us to do the job
rather than all the money that's spent setting up new entities,
we can get a lot done. And I think if
we go back to the storm water and can send
for seawalls and the likes of the money was there
available for us to actually just do the work, wouldn't

(02:05):
we get a lot more done?

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Okay? Now what do you think of the political parties
coming to local government like actors just announce they're going
to be standing candidates.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, I don't agree with it all. I mean, this
is about local democracy we're talking here. We're talking about
citizens that really care for the communities in which they live,
that want the best for their communities. And the last
thing we need is some central government political overload and
local government system.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Isn't it, don't you think? I mean the problem that
we've got is not a lot of people vote in
local government anymore. And I think part of the problem,
Max is because we look at this list of people,
go I don't know who this is, I don't know
what they stand for, and it just feels just like
too much mental load. So if you have a blue
box or a pink box, or a red box or
a green box, at least you know kind of roughly
what they stand for. It's shorthand it gets us involved again,

(02:52):
what do you think?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
No, then you ask the question why do we have
local government? I mean local government is they're about caring
for the communities. And we've heard a lot of rhetoric
around getting rid of the well beings, you know, the social, economic, environmental,
and cultural aspects of what we do. If you get
rid of those, who's going to deliver on that? And
what's left once you take away those well beings in
a community? That's what people get up for. They get

(03:15):
up for to be locked after they're there for vibrant communities,
So somebody has to deliver that. And with the erosion
or potential erosion of local government, you'll get to the
point where who is actually going to deliver on those
because it's certainly not been delivered by central government. Currently.
Local government is the last man standing, so we need
to be there.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
What about the argument that a whole bunch of stuff
that we actually just used to do for ourselves and
each other, like our neighbors and our family and our friends,
we now expect these authorities to do for us. You
shouldn't be relying on an authority for your well being,
you should just be doing it as a community.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
I think we are local government some of us. If
you look at a council, we look at ourselves as
anchor institutions and we're there to facilitate the opportunity. Well,
somebody's got organized communities to do this, So we don't
actually have to deliver as councils, but someone has got
to facilitate the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
What about some communities just organize the street barbecue themselves.
Why do we need a local government body to do that?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Come on, Heather, it's a bit bigger than a barbecue,
you know that is. I mean, we've got roadstock after it,
rubbish to back up, we've got.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
But that's not well being.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
That's just your job, are they Aren't they really well being?

Speaker 1 (04:24):
That's infrastructure?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh come on, you know the road that you travel
on that hasn't got potholes. There's a well being for
a farmer that there's exactly what he needs to be
able to get to town. So yeah, come on here,
in a small community like ours, we're not building events, censors,
we're not building anything fancy. We're looking after our communities
so they're vibrant.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
No, no, I agree with that as we. Okay, Well,
if that's your wellbeing, that's the well being that I like. Max,
Thank you very much, appreciate it. Max Baxter all sort
of hungers mare.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
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