National Government has decided its final say matters more than local democracy by taking away the mandate for democratically elected councils to support the wellbeing of communities, says the Green Party.
“This is yet another broken promise from a coalition that campaigned on localism and building the relationship between government and councils, only to pass a law that gives Government the final say over those who are locally elected,” says Green Party Local Government spokesperson, Mike Davidson.
“The Local Government Systems Improvements Amendment Bill ultimately takes away the ability of democratically elected councils to support the social, environmental, cultural and economic wellbeing of their communities and decide how they organise themselves and make decisions.”
“Across Aotearoa, councils often appoint community members and subject matter experts to committees to help councils make better decisions for their communities when elected members do not have the necessary expertise.”
“The new legislation removes the voting rights of these committee members, effectively removing expertise and community voices from committee decisions.”
"The legislation allows the Minister to decide when exceptions can be made, with no transparency, which risks decision making due to the potential for political influence and undermines public confidence.”
“The Minister has added major changes to the Bill without public scrutiny or any consultation with those impacted. There is no evidence that the current system is not working.”
“Local experts and community voices should be treated with the respect they deserve.”
“The Green Party will work with Local Government, not against it. Councils and local democracy should be valued by Central Government to ensure decisions are made by communities, not for them,” says Mike Davidson.
