If Councils don’t come to the amalgamation party, someone else will do it for them

At a recent meeting in Kapiti Jones stated that NZ First’s preference was for each region to come to a conclusion that worked for the majority of people in a region.  His stated preference was to replicate the approach used in the late 1980’s when Sir Brian Elwood chaired an independent Local Government Commission that worked through what amalgamations should take place and made recommendations to Government. 

He said that was a better approach than a top down, central Government imposed solution.  He said that NZ First would not force Councils to merge but then immediately qualified that by saying that if local government did not sort out its problems, its ‘dysfunctionalisms’,  then someone else would do it for them.   Although he did not state this, this would presumably mean a forced amalgamation if central government deemed it necessary.

We weren’t able to ask Shane Jones about the NZ First position on rates capping, or why we have to wait until 2029, but we have asked local NZ First candidate Penny Gaylor that question in an email, but we are still awaiting her reply.

DISCLAIMER:   CRK is not aligned to any political party. Our focus is on how Central Government decisions affect local government — and ultimately, the rates we all pay.  We’ll continue asking the questions and reporting back on what the political parties are actually proposing.