Back To Basics - Forward Into Confusion
The Great Local Government Devolution That Somehow Centralises Everything
By all accounts, this government is absolutely obsessed with handing power back to the people. Or perhaps a people. Or possibly just some people. It’s hard to say, really. Because while the word “devolution” gets flung around with the frequency of a council rates increase, the actual flow of power seems to be heading firmly in one direction - Wellington. Possibly Simon Watts’ garage.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not clever enough to understand how reforming local government by overriding local government is empowering local government. That’s on me. I didn’t study public administration at the University of Orwell.
At the recent Local Government New Zealand conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dialled in from somewhere with a lot of flags behind him, which is always comforting, to explain that councils need to “get back to basics.” Roads. Pipes. Rubbish. No more silly distractions like plans, reports, or democratic participation. Certainly no “vanity projects,” unless, of course, they involve stadiums that cost half a billion dollars and lose money faster than Auckland loses mayors.
He was followed by Chris Bishop, who essentially told councils to sit down, shut up, and stop whining about debt, climate adaptation, or the minor detail of how they're meant to pay for any of this with capped rates and ballooning infrastructure needs. You see, this government is giving them the tools - no, not funding tools, don’t be silly - the other kind of tools. The metaphysical ones. The vibes.
Meanwhile, Minister Simon Watts reassured everyone that no, regional councils aren't being scrapped, but also, they might be. Or something. Again, probably just a level of nuance beyond the reach of my small ratepayer brain. Maybe if I’d been a good boy and stuck to my “core services,” like listening quietly and not asking questions, I’d understand it better.
Watts also compared councils to his children, which is always a winning strategy. It’s not condescending at all to tell a room full of elected adults that, like toddlers, they need clear boundaries. "You’ve got these five things to do," he said. What happens if they do six? Or four and a half? Do they get a time-out? Lose access to infrastructure funding? A stern talking-to from Uncle Chris?
The most curious part of all this is that when Labour tried to fix water infrastructure with Three Waters, a messy, complicated, but at least directionally coherent plan, they were crucified for overreach. Now, with “Local Water Done Well,” National has heroically rebranded the same basic challenge and handed it back to councils, but with none of the funding and all of the expectation. Like a bake sale, but the cakes have to meet the Drinking Water Standards.
Clutha’s Mayor Bryan Cadogan, a man not known for hyperbole, is staring down the barrel of a 16.59% rates rise and debt that's gone from $5 million to $123 million in five years. The cause? Water infrastructure. But also maths. But mostly Three Waters. Or maybe not Three Waters. Look, it’s complicated, okay?
One can't help but wonder: is this what localism looks like? Central government wagging its finger, yelling “No more plans!” like a grumpy dad at Bunnings? Because nothing says “we trust local communities” like stripping their powers, telling them what they’re allowed to spend money on, and then blaming them when they fail to pull a new water plant out of a hat without raising rates.
Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton had the audacity to suggest that maybe, just maybe, returning some of the GST from house builds back to councils could help them pay for the infrastructure those houses need. But that sounds suspiciously like giving councils agency and we can’t have that. Not when there are shiny central government announcements to make.
And then there’s Te Pūkenga, the polytech Frankenstein’s monster currently being frantically disassembled like an IKEA shelving unit that never quite stood up. Wasn’t that also about centralising to save money? Or maybe devolving to improve outcomes? I forget. There’s been so many reform storms it’s hard to tell whether we’re in the eye of the hurricane or just trapped in the spin cycle.
One does wonder, or at least I do, from my dim corner of confused civic participation - how all this top-down finger-wagging and “back to basics” chest-thumping squares with the talk of empowering local democracy. Because from where I’m standing, it looks like the people with the least power are the ones closest to the problems. And the ones with all the power are the ones furthest away.
Still, perhaps I’m missing the point. Maybe “localism” in 2025 means “do what we say, with less money, and smile while you’re doing it.” Maybe all these mayors and councillors just need to try a bit harder. Cut a bit deeper. Sell some assets. Or pray for rain, the non-contaminated kind.
Anyway. Must dash. I think my rates bill just arrived by courier, and I need to mortgage a kidney.
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