Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country

• Bryce Edwards writes –

Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor in the country. By contrast, Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon has an approval rating of +51 per cent, and Matamata-Piako’s Adrienne Wilcock is on +46 per cent.

The polling was carried out by David Farrar’s Curia Research. Other notable results at the top end include Nelson’s Nick Smith +44 per cent, Rotorua’s Tania Tapsell +30 per cent, Christchurch’s Phil Mauger +12 per cent, and Hamilton’s Paula Southgate +12 per cent. At the bottom end, Kāpiti’s Janet Holborow is -8 per cent, Auckland’s Wayne Brown is -9 per cent and Whanau at -12 per cent. Also included are Tauranga’s unelected commissioners, who have a worse rating than the mayors, on -18 per cent.

BRYCE EDWARDS: How Wellington City Council got captured by vested interests

• Bryce Edwards writes –

Wellington City has become a great case study for those that are suspicious that both local and central government politicians have become enthralled by property developers, the “professional managerial class”, and other vested interests.

Politicians from parties of both left and right are increasingly seen as being captured by such interests, regardless of whether they are Greens, National, or Labour. And rising public discontent is the result.

ELE LUDEMANN: Trusting locals

• Ele Ludemann writes-

A government-knows-best and predilection for central control was another unfortunate feature of the 2017-2023 Labour governments.

One of the worst polices as a result of that was what started as Three Waters and became several more.

The National-led government is much more trusting of locals and is proving that with a much better plan for water:

LOGAN SAVORY: The planned blessing that has irked councillors

“I’m struggling to understand why we are having a blessing to bless this site considering it is a scrap metal yard… It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

• Logan Savory writes-

When’s a blessing appropriate and when isn’t it?

Some Invercargill City Councillors have questioned whether blessings might be overused after council staff organised a blessing to help mark the launch of a battery recycling programme.

Southland is one of many regions that does not currently have a battery disposal pathway.

ELE LUDEMANN: People prefer local power

• Ele Ludemann writes –

The last six years have shown only to well that centralised decision making isn’t good for regions:

. . . The New Zealand Initiative chief economist Dr Eric Crampton said decisions were being made in Wellington with little understanding of the regions, meaning “they often get things wrong at a local level”.

He points to winter grazing and minimum wage regulations as examples.

“These things have to come from the regions. Policy is way too inflexible when it comes to meeting the needs of different regions.”

For decentralisation to work though, Crampton said local communities needed to be able to tell their councils what they needed, and the councils could in turn negotiate with central government.

Councils needed funding for long term infrastructure projects for climate change strengthening, Crampton said.

Some 60 years ago, farmers would be able to set themselves up as a board and vote to build flood banks, for example, by way of levies – collected by the council – to pay off financing debt.

“It really enabled communities to figure out what works for them.”

Why Asians could make a stronger case than Māori to be given seats on the Auckland Council

The Auckland Council is reported to be hoping for more submissions from Māori on a matter of race-based electoral arrangements.

Rather than accept the possibility of indifference, according to RNZ, the Council is perplexed that Maori are not flocking to make submissions on whether to establish Māori seats.

The RNZ report explains:

The council is considering whether to create the number of Māori seats based on the size of the Māori electoral roll, or establish two elected Māori councillors with a third mana whenua seat.

There was also another model altogether.

That’s as much as we are told about “another model altogether”.

Local government and the “Treaty partnership” – Kiwiblog tells you what the news media missed or downplayed

Point of Order was alerted by Kiwiblog’s David Farrar to the shape of local government which is being recommended in its final report by Labour’s hand-picked panel.

Farrar particularly noted the proposal from this government-appointed body to dismiss the principle of equality of suffrage.

His article drew attention to these proposals:

• Taxpayers to hand over $1 billion a year to fund local councils, on top of rates
• Lower voting age to 16
• Make STV compulsory for all Councils
• Allow Councils to charge congestion charges, bed taxes, visitor levies and value-added taxes
• Rejects equality of suffrage as a western-style ideal (in fact it is a universal human right)
• Allow every Council to have direct Iwi/Hapu appointed members with equal voting rights to elected councillors
• Go from three to four year term

Farrar commented:

Eric Crampton: A case for Film Commission funding

• Eric Crampton writes –

Film subsidies aimed at boosting economic activity are a mistake. That stuff just doesn’t work.

But if you’re trying to subsidise more stories and content about a small country at the far end of the world, well, they can be effective for that.

And I have a proposal for one.

A decade ago, Henderson’s fight with IRD, which eventually saw him win and buy the building that IRD leased, was turned into a movie. With some help from the Film Commission. If you haven’t seen it, it’s great fun.

David Fisher writes about another case that would make a wonderful film:

THOMAS CRANMER: ‘New Zealand has been duped’

 

‘New Zealand has been duped’was the view expressed by National’s Maureen Pugh in the House this week, but despite opposition from National and Act, the Water Services Entities Bill passed its second reading.  THOMAS CRANMER writes:

This week, the Water Services Entities Bill passed its second reading in the House with Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori voting in favour, and National and Act voting against.

It was, in truth, an entirely predictable debate with both sides of the House talking past each other. But the opposition speakers did highlight some of the most egregious problems with the Bill. Here is a selection of some of their substantive objections (with my own emphasis added in bold).

National’s Simon Watts highlighted the potential transfer of parks and reserves to the WSEs and the broadening of the scope for the Te Mana o te Wai statements:

Explicitly, two changes in the bill. One is about including green infrastructure like parks and reserves. They are lining up local parks and reserves to be transferred to these mega entities, and the Minister pretty much categorically agreed with that yesterday in the House. They are also expanding the Te Mana o te Wai statement to include coastal and geothermal waters—under the radar, three waters has become five waters. This Government is intent on a control agenda which will be detrimental to this country’s future.

Act’s Simon Court pointed out that the government’s bottom line of balance sheet separation is no more than a fiction:

THOMAS CRANMER: Five Waters and a Park

As the government looks to push through the Water Services Entities Bill under urgency, it’s busy stuffing as much into its goodie bag as it can. THOMAS CRANMER wrote this ahead of the second reading of the Bill –

One week on from Parliament’s cross-party Finance and Expenditure Committee report on the Water Services Entities Bill, questions are starting to be raised about some of their recommendations.

On Monday, an excellent article from Graham Adams rightly identified the expansion of Te Mana o te Wai statements to include coastal and geothermal waters as constituting extraordinary mission creep – effectively transforming Three Waters into Five Waters. This eye-opening development has raised alarm bells amongst some commentators.

Coupled with that, a subtle change in the draft Bill has occurred. A section dealing with the preservation of rights and interests in water – which was previously positioned near the end of the Bill in clause 201 has been moved to a prominent position at the front of the Bill, where it now features as clause 9A, immediately after the clause on Treaty settlement obligations. This is a key provision for many iwi as it preserves their arguments over customary rights in water – it is the debate over who owns the water in New Zealand.