Labour’s reforms hurting us
Ballot box the most powerful weapon we have to combat stress we are living under
My congratulations and bestwishes to allmy electorate councils and mayors. As one whohas faced voters inthree elections now, I admire your willingness to put upyour hand to serve your communities and thank thosewhose terms have ended.
Being in public office is not easy, but it has itsownrewards, as I have discovered in the past eight years.
As incoming local leaders you will shape our regions and determine what happens in the next three years and beyond. But youmayface somedifficulty as you go about that.
National’s review of the Government’s Future for Local Government report released on October 28 shows it is yet another attack on local democracy.
Local Government spokesman Simon Watts describes it as “a whole lot of ideological waffle that does nothing to deliver on the core issues facing communities around the country”.
If you read the report’s almost 300pages there is little in it to deliver infrastructure, housing and the other essential services, local government provides. Yet it does includehowseats around the council tablewill be filled, with the inclusion ofmanawhenua representatives, appointed without having to go through a public voting process andwho cannot be removed at the ballot box.
Wereject this co-government proposal, just likewe reject the cogovernance of public services.
Oneperson, one vote is the founding principle of any democracy— a tenet going back through themillennia. The very word‘democracy’ is from the AncientGreeks tomean‘rule of the people’.
Our other major objections to the report are lowering the voting age to 16 andtomakethe term between elections longer. Two unnecessary changes, while roads remain broken, community services are at breaking point and reforms like Three Waters and resource management continue.
Plus there are references that morelocal functions could be centralised like animal control, sale of alcohol and building regulations.
As Imoveabout the electorate and beyond, the stresses of Labour’s agenda are showing.
Cost of living, followed by law and order, housing, education and health, are themajor topics of conversation. National identified these as Labour’s top five fails for a recent poll. Morethan 23,000 respondents agreed, placing the cost of living crisis atNo1.
Aswebattle the fallout from these in the House, and in the media, myelectorate team is also dealingwith the results at home.
Individual stresses like people trying to obtain visas to allow familymembers intoNewZealand in time for Christmas and summer weddings. Or local business owners being told they are not eligible for the Government’s $6 million ‘ram raid’ fundbecause it’s only for Auckland.
Then there’s the stress of the whole raft of government regulations (proposed and enacted), falling onour rural communities andworld-leading agricultural sector.
Submissions on the report close on February 28, before the panel presents its final report to the minister inJune. It will require careful consideration not only by councils and their teams, but us all.
Bythis time next year, wewill have anewgovernment in place. Whothat will be, is reliant on peopleusing their one vote, wisely. Because the ballot box is the most powerful weapon we have to combat the stress under whichwe are currently living.