Politicians duck for cover on Head Start
If New Zealand is going to undertake the most significant reform of local government in a generation, it needs a far more careful, considered and...
Category : Political Commentary
Tsunami of change for local government
The risk is not necessarily the reforms themselves – it is the cumulative weight of implementing them all at once, writes Mike Doesburg, Wynn Williams...
The battlefield of local government reform
The number one reason why Simon Watts and Chris Bishop have suddenly put the brakes on Head Start is a fear of suffering at the...
Māori and local government: navigating shifting legislation
The Government’s programme reflects a coherent, if contested, policy position that Māori interests in local governance should be accommodated through targeted statutory provisions and direct...
Capping rates – a danger for local & central government
We need an inquiry into local government funding, but it must have cross-party support and a clear commitment to implement its recommendations, write Andy Asquith,...
Turning vision into reality
The next phase of local government reform is about taking the foundations established through priorities, community voice, evidence and process, and applying them to three...
Costly, frustrating Head Start process
Image: Wellington Mayor Andrew Little. (Source: US Embassy) By Natasha Jojoa Burling A costly process Wellington City Council says the Head Start failure was a...
Local democracy swept aside
If amalgamation weakened accountability and drove costs up in 1989, is there any reason to believe that even more heavy-handed mergers can deliver the opposite...
And the early winners are…
Each potential coalition of councils has essentially had to outsource the work around amalgamation to a consultancy because of a lack of internal capacity and capability, write...
Democracy or autocracy?
As the Government mulls over the proposals for how councils propose to reorganise themselves under the Head Start pathway of Simplifying Local Government, we must...