A relentless burden of change
Linda O’Reilly, Special Counsel at Tompkins Wake, spent much of the Christmas/New Year break doomscrolling and weather watching and came up with this perspective on...
Category : Political Commentary
Realities of water reform
Will the water reforms fix council metrics, or simply shift the pressure, asks David Hammond, the Head of Consulting and Public Sectors at Tribe Executive....
We need a ‘collaborative’ Parliament
It was ironic that the very week [in December 2025] former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer lambasted Parliament and recent governments for too much rushed...
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...
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...
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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...