He piki tūranga, he piki kotuku, the final report of the Panel for the Review into the Future of Local Government was released today. This comes two years after the Panel was established by the Minister of Local Government at the request of local government and follows an interim and then draft report. This report provides a solid starting point for an overdue reform process.

The report sets out 17 recommendations under five themes involving fundamental and system wide change. The report is clear that the current system of local government is simply not capable of supporting communities through times head, including because of financial pressures, strains on capacity and resourcing and fragmented relationships with central government. It proposes structural change, central government funding and democratic reforms to set local government back on track. There is a blunt message to councils - lead the changes required, otherwise, inevitably, changes will be imposed.

This report does not reflect Government policy, rather, it will inform future reform in this area over time (a core purpose of the review was ‘to identify how our system of local democracy and governance needs to evolve over the next 30 years). It is unlikely the Government will want to progress any recommendations in advance of the upcoming election and it is unclear how it will be viewed if there is a change of Government. But it is increasingly clear to most New Zealanders that the current system of local government is no longer fit for purpose and that change in some form is urgently required. 

Recommendations include:

1. Establishing a dedicated Crown department to facilitate a more effective relationship with central government.
2. Establishing a new local government stewardship institution to strengthen the health and fitness of the system.
3. Introducing new tools to raise revenue (with rates remaining the main funding mechanisms for councils).
4. This council funding must be accompanied by significant central government funding to support locally specific wellbeing outcomes. 
5. Reorganisation of council structure, leadership and operating models (two models are proposed), the expectation being that this will be led by councils and supported by central government.  
6. Strengthening local government democracy including by providing for a 4-year term adopting ranking voting, lowering the voting age to 16 and lowering the threshold for Māori wards.
7. Adding new provisions to the Local Government Act to explicitly recognise local government as a partner to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori values.
8. Entrenching the Local Government Act purpose in order to facilitate intergenerational wellbeing and to give councils certainty that the purpose will not be subject to regular change.

If you’d like to know more, or get involved in the next steps, get in touch with Hayden Wilson or Linda Clark.