Once upon a time there was a city…
Image: Manukau City Centre shopping complex in 1977. Photo by G. Reithmaier. It was the most progressive city in New Zealand. The city was young,...
Category : Political Commentary
Post the waters exit part two
David Hammond, Head of Consulting and Public Sectors at Tribe Executive, continues his discussion on whether water reform resolves performance pressures or redistributes them, and...
Our Chicken Little Syndrome
Have we become paranoid over our historically tempestuous weather, asks Alan Titchall, reviewing the drama around the storms in April (2026) Cyclone Vaianu last month,...
Regional councils already represent flood resilience
From national strategy to regional delivery, Dr Deon Swiggs, Chair of the Canterbury Regional Council, Chair of LGNZ Regional Sector, and Resource Management Act Commissioner,...
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...
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...