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...
Tag : Local government accountability
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...
A red card system for councils?
I hope you enjoyed the FIFA World Cup 2026 as much as I did. It is amazing how exciting, dramatic and emotional it can be watching...
All the reform, everywhere, all at once
If local government feels overwhelmed at the moment, that is because almost every lever that shapes the sector is being pulled at once, writes Gwynn...
Why good governance matters
Each council triennium we seem to have at least one council that maintains its place on our newspaper front pages for all the wrong reasons,...
It must be that time again…
As regular as a royal visit, every few years the issue of local government reorganisation rears its head – and then quickly fades away. Reform is...
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....
More transparency please
Image: The Tauranga City Council administration building. The Office of the Auditor-General says requests to inquire into spending decisions made by Tauranga City Council in...
A huge shift in LTP obligations
We are entering a ‘brave new world’ of heightened accountability for council financial planning with demands for new and improved performance and accountability that were...