May 5, 2026 • 6 mins
Federated Farmers’ local government spokeswoman on the prospect of some much-needed local body reform.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sandra. Sandra, I always get it confused between Matthews and Faulkner.
I'm going to go with Sundra Faulkner, Federated Farmer's Local
government spokesperson up in one of my favorite areas of
the country, gisben Poverty Bay. What a great place that is,
Sundra Federated Farmer's Local government spokesperson. You're fully supportive of
(00:22):
what Chris Bishop is actually forcing upon local body authorities,
a bit of amalgamation, a bit of consolidation. We've just
got too many small councils around the country.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, that's right. We're pretty keen to see action in
this space. And that comes on the back of years
and years basically of working alongside local authorities. The Federated
Farmer's team has been there for well over twenty five
years working with them, and I think I don't think
I've come across anybody in the last few years that
hasn't agreed that the current model is needing a facelift.
(00:58):
So a facelift, what we're going to get, well.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Just economy on economy of scale alone. And you see,
I don't want to point the finger. I don't think
I will, but I see local body authorities with big
flesh temples, monuments to themselves or buildings, they possibly could
share those.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Buildings, especially these in rooms.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Oh no, no, no, I'll get in trouble. You'll get
me in trouble. But no, no, not only there. I've
just seen, you know, I mean the perfect example of
a sensible amalgamation. And the Southland District Mayor Rob Scott's
running a good line on this, He's been very proactive
on it. You would think that Gore, for instance, which
is a small local authority, could could amalgamate with Southland.
(01:46):
It would be pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah. Well, of course, the most clearing floor in the
current system is, you know, the the trying to mesh
large population areas with the provincial our ships and the
rural hinterlands that you and I speak about, and basically
rate payers up and down the country have just lost
confidence and their local representatives as a result. So what
(02:12):
we've done has gone out with a proposal that says,
let's work on the unitary model, which you miniaged to
talk about the other day, but let's make it smart
and say, okay, so for the large metropolitan areas, let
those senior management teams and elected representatives work on the
(02:33):
needs of those communities and let those of us in
the provincial areas, also within unitary authorities, do what works
best for us. Let's make decisions or have decision makers
that we can place our faith in because they know
and understand our needs.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, give me an example of how that would work.
How would it work in your homepage.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we're already like the head because we are a
unitary authority here in Gisborne. So that's probably the other
part of our proposal is very much the fact that
we have very successful models already in existence. And the
other thing is too that we believe that this could
be done within the existing legislation, which of course is
what's driving all of this. There's no need to throw
(03:20):
the whole Act, plus the Baby and the Bath order
out and start again. We've got successful unitary authorities in
this country already. We've got our communities of councilors that
can represent us.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
This is it's a tricky one because a lot of
people want to talk about localism. For us, it's about
great representation. So it comes back to empowering the people
who understand the need for our growth, planning for that
the asset management, all of those things that for us
are really important in our communities. They understand those needs.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
How much duplication is going on between local district councils
or city councils and regional councils.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, there's any of duplication going on, as probably any
one of us could point to examples thereof. But I
think we're further down the track than that now. There's
already been a very clear indication that the regional council
function will be removed from the local government structure here
in New Zealand. So for us now it's actually being
(04:27):
about proactive And the one thing that we really appreciated
yesterday's and yesterday's announcement was for those groups, those provincial
groups that have got to get already groups of councils
and gone, this is what a great model looks for
us in our region. So get on with it, you know,
let's support them to do what they've already done the
(04:49):
inquiries and they've already done the investigations and they've probably
already started talking to the rates parts about so let's
enable them. In the meantime, I think there always needed
to be some we'll call it impetus to get other
parts of the country, all of those meres and chairs
in the room and going, come on, this is broken.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, I think it's a good kick in the backside
from christ Bishop, doesn't He said, you've got three months
sorted out or well sorted out. That's the sort of
dictatorship I admire. Before I let you go, we've been talking.
We were talking to Anna Pellera from Fonterra about a
very kind end to the autumn, to the farming season.
(05:31):
Whether you're a pastoral or a arable farmer, it's been
pretty good in terms of growth and all that sort
of stuff. How are you fearing in the Gisbone region.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, it's been an absolutely blessed season, it really has.
We have I don't know anybody that isn't still growing grass.
You know, we're well into May now with the meat
prices everything, because of course we don't have a dairy
industry here in entirety. But it's been a phenomenal season
for us all and for me as part of this community.
(06:06):
It's just been so heartwarming to see.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay, Sandra as opposed to Sandra Fortunly, I think you
we'll have to chat with Sandra Matthews. Hey, thanks for
some of your time today and dear Feeds, keep up
the good work.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thanks so much. Jerny a great afternoon.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yep, good on you.
Sandra. Sandra, I always get it confused between Matthews and Faulkner.
I'm going to go with Sundra Faulkner, Federated Farmer's Local
government spokesperson up in one of my favorite areas of
the country, gisben Poverty Bay. What a great place that is,
Sundra Federated Farmer's Local government spokesperson. You're fully supportive of
(00:22):
what Chris Bishop is actually forcing upon local body authorities,
a bit of amalgamation, a bit of consolidation. We've just
got too many small councils around the country.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, that's right. We're pretty keen to see action in
this space. And that comes on the back of years
and years basically of working alongside local authorities. The Federated
Farmer's team has been there for well over twenty five
years working with them, and I think I don't think
I've come across anybody in the last few years that
hasn't agreed that the current model is needing a facelift.
(00:58):
So a facelift, what we're going to get, well.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Just economy on economy of scale alone. And you see,
I don't want to point the finger. I don't think
I will, but I see local body authorities with big
flesh temples, monuments to themselves or buildings, they possibly could
share those.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Buildings, especially these in rooms.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Oh no, no, no, I'll get in trouble. You'll get
me in trouble. But no, no, not only there. I've
just seen, you know, I mean the perfect example of
a sensible amalgamation. And the Southland District Mayor Rob Scott's
running a good line on this, He's been very proactive
on it. You would think that Gore, for instance, which
is a small local authority, could could amalgamate with Southland.
(01:46):
It would be pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah. Well, of course, the most clearing floor in the
current system is, you know, the the trying to mesh
large population areas with the provincial our ships and the
rural hinterlands that you and I speak about, and basically
rate payers up and down the country have just lost
confidence and their local representatives as a result. So what
(02:12):
we've done has gone out with a proposal that says,
let's work on the unitary model, which you miniaged to
talk about the other day, but let's make it smart
and say, okay, so for the large metropolitan areas, let
those senior management teams and elected representatives work on the
(02:33):
needs of those communities and let those of us in
the provincial areas, also within unitary authorities, do what works
best for us. Let's make decisions or have decision makers
that we can place our faith in because they know
and understand our needs.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, give me an example of how that would work.
How would it work in your homepage.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we're already like the head because we are a
unitary authority here in Gisborne. So that's probably the other
part of our proposal is very much the fact that
we have very successful models already in existence. And the
other thing is too that we believe that this could
be done within the existing legislation, which of course is
what's driving all of this. There's no need to throw
(03:20):
the whole Act, plus the Baby and the Bath order
out and start again. We've got successful unitary authorities in
this country already. We've got our communities of councilors that
can represent us.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
This is it's a tricky one because a lot of
people want to talk about localism. For us, it's about
great representation. So it comes back to empowering the people
who understand the need for our growth, planning for that
the asset management, all of those things that for us
are really important in our communities. They understand those needs.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
How much duplication is going on between local district councils
or city councils and regional councils.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, there's any of duplication going on, as probably any
one of us could point to examples thereof. But I
think we're further down the track than that now. There's
already been a very clear indication that the regional council
function will be removed from the local government structure here
in New Zealand. So for us now it's actually being
(04:27):
about proactive And the one thing that we really appreciated
yesterday's and yesterday's announcement was for those groups, those provincial
groups that have got to get already groups of councils
and gone, this is what a great model looks for
us in our region. So get on with it, you know,
let's support them to do what they've already done the
(04:49):
inquiries and they've already done the investigations and they've probably
already started talking to the rates parts about so let's
enable them. In the meantime, I think there always needed
to be some we'll call it impetus to get other
parts of the country, all of those meres and chairs
in the room and going, come on, this is broken.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, I think it's a good kick in the backside
from christ Bishop, doesn't He said, you've got three months
sorted out or well sorted out. That's the sort of
dictatorship I admire. Before I let you go, we've been talking.
We were talking to Anna Pellera from Fonterra about a
very kind end to the autumn, to the farming season.
(05:31):
Whether you're a pastoral or a arable farmer, it's been
pretty good in terms of growth and all that sort
of stuff. How are you fearing in the Gisbone region.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, it's been an absolutely blessed season, it really has.
We have I don't know anybody that isn't still growing grass.
You know, we're well into May now with the meat
prices everything, because of course we don't have a dairy
industry here in entirety. But it's been a phenomenal season
for us all and for me as part of this community.
(06:06):
It's just been so heartwarming to see.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay, Sandra as opposed to Sandra Fortunly, I think you
we'll have to chat with Sandra Matthews. Hey, thanks for
some of your time today and dear Feeds, keep up
the good work.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thanks so much. Jerny a great afternoon.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yep, good on you.
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