Mike's Minute: Why would the councils not amalgamate?

I'm trying to work out in this council amalgamation back and forward, how many who aren't amalgamating are genuinely stuck, versus how many are simply sticking it up the Government because they don't like them and/or they don’t like being told what to do? 

Councils are the bane of our lives. We are over council-ed, we are overrated and we should be immeasurably grateful to the central government who are capping rates and reducing the number of these groups. 

The deadline to submit your plan is this weekend. 

As always there are a decent number who haven't been able to get there, or if they have it will be close to deadline. 

Another part of the problem is of course we don’t care. Our participation rate via voting is a joke. 

I noted ironically the other day Auckland Council set up a committee to work out why their turn out was only 28%. I could help them there – get rates down and produce fewer committees. 

The only reason you can argue against amalgamation is you're power hungry. 

There are 70+ councils in this country. A tiny island nation with a handful of people and we need, they argue, over 70 councils? 

Tiny little operations with duplication of services all over the place, all with their own rules, regulations and staffing costs and all with their weird variation and interpretation of rules. 

If ever there was a case for “less is more”, we have it. But no. 

Like recalcitrant children they are holding out. I assume some of them because they hope Labour get back and let them get on with their orgy of waste and inefficiency. 

When those who don’t submit rely on the so-called back-up plan, they will moan about that too. 

The sad truth or outworking of this sort of behaviour is the revelation that these people are not really about us. They are not really about their community. They are about themselves. 

They are power grabbers and control freaks. They love their insignificant little fiefdoms and love to laud their perceived power over others. 

Come deadline and come the capping of the rates and the reduction of the council numbers, not to mention the water amalgamation, is there a single person outside those whose power is being disabled, that will actually miss what we currently have? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So now I'm trying to work out in this council

(00:01):
of algamation back and forward, how many who aren't amalgamating
are genuinely stuck, versus how many are simply sticking it
up the government because one they don't like the government
and or two they don't like being told what to do. Councils,
of course, are the bane of our lives. We're over counseled,
we're overrated. We should be immeasurably grateful to the central
government who are one capping rates and two reducing the
number of these groups. The deadline to submit your plan

(00:24):
is this weekend. As always, there are a decent number
who haven't been able to get there, or if they have,
it'll be close to the deadline. Another part of the
problem is, of course we don't care our participation rate
via voting as a joke. I note, ironically the other
day the Auckland Council set up a committee to work
out why their turnout was only twenty eight percent. I
could help them there, get rates down and produce fewer committees.

(00:46):
The only reason you can argue against amalgamation is if
you're power hungry. Seventy plus councils in this country really
a tiny island nation with a handful of people who
need them. They argue over seventy councils, tiny little operations
with duplication of services all over the place, or with
their own rules, regulations and staffing costs, all with their

(01:06):
weird variation and interpretation of governance. If ever there was
a case for less is more, we have it. But
oh no, like recalcitrant children, they're holding out. I assume
some of them because they hope Labour get back and
let them get on with their orgy of waste and inefficiency.
When those who don't submit rely on the so called
back up plan, they'll moan about that as well. Of course,

(01:28):
the sad truth or out working of this sort of
behavior is the revelation that these people are not really
about us. They're not really about their community. They're about themselves.
They are power grabbers and control freaks. They love their
insignificant little fifdoms and love to lud their perceived power
over others. Come deadline and come the capping of the
rates and the reduction of the council numbers. Not to
mention the water amalgamation, is there a single person outside

(01:52):
those whose power is being disabled, that will actually miss
what we currently have. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,
listen live to News Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio