Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Rate caps will only delay the bigger problems

I can see that this idea of forcing rate caps on councils is taking off. So can I just express my concerns about this early on?

I personally love the idea of stopping councils from continually jacking up what they charge us, but I worry that this is not going to fix the situation, because it's not the actual problem, is it?

The actual problem is that councils spend our money on stupid stuff. A la, the light up toilets in Wellington even when they've got no money.

Wellington has got no money, but they keep on doing this stuff.

So even if you stop them having much money because you put on a rate cap, they will continue to spend the money on the wrong things.

A la, Wellington.

So what will then happen if you put the rate cap on - is that after years and years and years and years of deferred capital expenditure, the pipes will break down cause Wellington hasn't spent money on them, and the roads will be in disrepair because Wellington hasn't spent money on them, and the buildings will need earthquake upgrades cause Wellington hasn't spent money on them.

And then they will say - oh, look at all the trouble we've got. We need more money.

And then some Government run by somebody like Grant Robertson will go - yeah, cool, we'll lift the rate cap. And they'll just make up for lost ground and go hell for leather and jack it up.

Or what they'll do is for years and years and years and years, they will just run everything on the credit card and then they'll say - oh look, it's a debt crisis. We've got to pay back our debt, we need more money.

And some Government run by somebody like Grant Robertson will go - oh yeah, that's cool. Let's lift the rate cap, and then off they go.

And they'll just make up for lost ground. See what I mean?

It'll make you feel good about it in the short term, but they will get you eventually, because the problem is that they aren't spending money properly - and that is actually what we need to fix here.

Now, I don't know how. I think getting rid of some of our councils by canning the regional councils or canning the district councils or canning the local councils or the city councils may help limit the costs. But I'm not sure.

Ultimately, I think we just need smarter people on council - and we need to hold their feet to the fire.

But as long as you have numpties and council officials who are shady - and you're not watching them - a rate cap will only delay the problem.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, look, I can see that this idea of forcing
rate caps on councils is taking off, So can I
just express my concerns about this early on? I personally
love the idea of stopping counsels from continually jacking up
what they charge us, but I worry that this is
not going to fix the problem the situation, because it's
not the actual problem is it. The actual problem is

(00:20):
that councils spend our money on stupid stuff. Allah the
light up toilets in Wellington, even when they've got no money. Allah, Wellington,
it's got no money, but they keep on doing this stuff.
So even if you stop them having much money because
you put on a rate cap, they will continue to
spend the money on the wrong things, Allah, Wellington. So
what will then happen if you put the rate cap

(00:41):
on is that after years and years and years and
years of deferred capital expenditure, the pipes will break down
because Wellington hasn't spent money on them, and the roads
will be in disrepair because Wellington hasn't spent money on them,
and the buildings will need earthquake upgrades because Wellington hasn't
spent money on them. And then they will say, oh,
look at all the trouble we've got, we need more money,
and then some government run by somebody like Aunt Robinson
will go, yeah, cool, we'll lift the rate cap and

(01:02):
they'll just make up for lost ground and go hell
for leather and jacket up. Or what they'll do is
for years and years and years and years, they will
just run everything on the credit card and then they'll say, oh,
look it's a debt crisis. Oh, we've got to pay
back our debt. We need more money, and some government
run by somebody like Grant Robertson will go, oh, yeah,
that's cool, let's lift the rate cap, and then off
they go, and they'll just make up for lost ground.

(01:22):
See what I mean. It'll make you feel good about
it in the short term, but they will get you
eventually because the problem is that they aren't spending money properly,
and that is actually what we need to fix here now.
I don't know how I think getting rid of some
of our councils by canning the regional councils, or canning
the district councils, or canning the local the city councils.
I don't know. Getting rid of some council somewhere may

(01:43):
help to limit the costs, but I'm not entirely sure
even of that. Ultimately, I think we just need smarter
people on council and we need to hold their feet
to the fire. But as long as you have numpties
and council officials who are shady and you're not watching them,
a rate cap will only delay the problem. For more
from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to news Talks

(02:04):
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