Government knows best
Regional councils have worked for almost four decades, but now the Government, in its second year of office, has decided, “local government has lost the...
Category : Political Commentary
Sharing the pain
Reports from Australia indicate the local government sector has reached a crossroads, where federal and state funding no longer covers the extra services and responsibilities...
Deciding between Bishop’s choice
Auckland Council’s Policy and Planning Committee conducted an intense and heated seven-hour meeting back in September to consider two Government options for Auckland’s future planning...
Trapped within their bubbles
Peter Dunne writes: “The great Scottish poet Robbie Burns’ famous quote, ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see...
We offer practical knowledge to policymakers
Voting in the local body elections is in progress and we are already turning our attention to the national elections next year, with the three-year...
Local Government in crisis
As we stare down another election this month, Paula Southgate warns that constant criticism and bad behaviour are undermining local government. Councils are under siege...
Improving Government asset management
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop spoke at the 2025 Infrastructure Asset Management Professionals Association (Apopo) congress in Christchurch about our infrastructure asset management challenge. “We need...
Parliamentary game-playing
A tense and intriguing political chess game is currently being played in Parliament’s Privileges Committee, explains Peter Dunne. On the face of it, the issue...
The case for a smaller government executive
Based on a speech David Seymour gave to the Tauranga Business Chamber last month where he floated an idea about how we could transform government...
A political perspective on 2024
As a turbulent political year drew to a close in 2024, some observations can be made about the state of the various parties and some...