Of Aotearoa New Zealand
Source Diane McCarthy PDF REAL Rates Reform is upon us and the way to get is to make it an election issue in 2026 You can stand on the sideline and rubbish the idea, or you can roll up your sleeves and support the campaign to bring real relief to unaffordable rates. Who’s side are […]
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Source Dave Stewart PDF I feel I must respond to Keith Melville’s latest letter “GST refund not the answer” (Beacon, September 24). Mr Melville has been vocal in claiming he wants the council to offer ratepayers a better deal but supports only candidates who offer very little in the way of substance. Nationally, the local […]
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Source 1News PDF While the National led coalition government is busy telling local councils how to spend money, they’re spending $70 million doing exactly what they’re telling councils not to. The Government has announced a $70 million investment package aimed at supercharging New Zealand’s events and tourism sectors, introducing new money to attract global acts, […]
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A central criticism he made of New Zealand was the erosion of Parliamentary processes by successive governments – particularly the use of urgency for passing legislation, by which normal processes scrutinising bills are skipped.
“If you want to process a great deal of legislation, the Parliament’s not sitting enough to deal with it,” said Palmer, noting that drafting legislation effectively was time-consuming and difficult.
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Source Diane McCarthy PDF The support amongst the Matatā community for a sewerage scheme was loud and clear at a Meet the Candidates event organised by Matatā Residents’ Association. The Matatā Rugby Club was filled to capacity with Matatā locals and local government candidates from across the Eastern Bay. East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick was […]
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I was invited by the Whakatāne District Council to record a video and submit a profile statement for the Local Body Election. I was pretty careful how I wrote the Profile Statement but I chose to do the video ‘off the cuff’ and not prepare for it and just answer the questions direct from my […]
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Rates are going through the roof and people are struggling. Even so, I’m going to say something that most mayoral candidates won’t admit. Rates are going to keep going up and anyone who promises that they can stop that happening is lying to you. The Government would sack the council and install commissioners if we did what it would take to stop rates increasing.
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Source Whakatāne district councillors have expressed surprise that cemeteries, public toilets, animal control, liquor licences and consents are not considered core services for councils by the Government. “This is bizarre,” councillor Nandor Tanczos said. “The (Coalition Government’s) list of core services doesn’t include a whole bunch of functions that the Government itself requires that we […]
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National’s hidden agenda was unaffordable rates. And now we are having to address it.
National’s supporters in this campaign here in Whakatāne are telling us to pay for National’s $440 million water alternatives we must sell our publicly owned assets and privatise everything that moves. This means we will pay the same of higher rates, and then pay again for the services our rates used to cover.
Continue ReadingLet’s reimagine the future of urban life — one city, one community, one happy place at a time.
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Wellington City Council did support several parts of the bill, such as measuring council performance, strengthening transparency and accountability and providing regulatory relief.
Core services have been defined in the bill as network infrastructure, public transport services, waste management, civil defence emergency management, libraries, museums, reserves, and other recreational facilities.
While museums were listed as a core service, festivals, live performances, stadiums, concert halls and large theatres were not. The submission points to the economic benefit of events such as the council-supported World of WearableArt show, which contributed more than $31 million to the city last year.
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In a statement yesterday, Local Government Minister Simon Watts said some households were getting frustrated by unfair rate hikes during the cost-of-living crisis.
It followed comments at the recent Local Government NZ (LGNZ) conference, where Watts compared councils to children and suggested that letting them do what they wanted might lead to bad choices.
Olds, who attended the conference, told his colleagues and LGNZ representatives that he was disappointed that councils continued to get “beaten up by central government” over things that were out of their control.
Councils had defended rising rates as they were dealing with increased infrastructure costs, unfunded mandates, insurance, and inflation.
LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said tensions between local and central government were “a challenge”, and that councils bore the impact of frequent changes to government policy.
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Source Dave Stewart PDF I want to thank Peter Minten for his opinion piece (Where is your research?, Beacon. July 25) and acknowledging that the forces of conservatism are lining up our community owned assets for sale in order to pay for our 3 Waters infrastructure. Honesty like that needs to be applauded. At a time […]
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The cost of water services would be going up a lot, Kircher said, but less so under a joint model.
Now, keeping the services in-house, his council’s total rates take would have to increase by 25% next year, and a further 30% the year after. The council would be reviewing its long term plan to find savings and lessen this.
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OPINION: What do we do about 78 councils, rising rates and the need to improve efficiency and focus on the basics?
Some argue the Government should simply pass a law to cap rates and let ‘the market’ sort itself out. But history tells us blunt interventions often generate unintended consequences.
When councils have focused purely on rate minimisation in the past, they’ve generally cut infrastructure maintenance, inspections and deferred capital investment, contributing to a significant proportion of New Zealand’s $200 billion infrastructure deficit.
Government wants to grow the economy and speed up housing development. Yet, ironically, it needs councils to enable housing growth, through investments in roads, water, transport and other essential services.
Capping rates without addressing the funding model simply kneecaps councils’ ability to invest. Without money, projects don’t proceed and assets deteriorate.
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“Having created a situation where councils are being forced to put up the rates to pay for things like water infrastructure, the government’s now trying to blame them for doing something that they really don’t have a choice but to do.
“Ultimately if the government don’t want councils to increase rates, they’ve got to find another way of funding the water infrastructure that we need.”
Local Government New Zealand president and Selwyn District mayor Sam Broughton said rates capping could be “disastrous for communities” and leave councils without the means to fund essential infrastructure.
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Yet another case of Big Brother Government in Wellington telling local councils what to do with huge costs associated and no funding – yet more of the multi-million dollar rip off that Wellington bureaucrats throw at ratepayers, who they clearly see as a bottomless ATM
“Councillors have been astounded by the inflexible parameters, risks to children and others’ safety, and the potential extra costs of consultation and physical safety enhancements. Auckland Council and Auckland Transport both opposed the Government’s automatic raising of speeds back to 50 km/h but the rule came into force anyway. AT already estimated publicly the road and sign changes could cost it $25m, which the Govt refused to subsidise.”
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