Posts by Sacha
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Muse: Confound The Ignorant, And Amaze Indeed!, in reply to Islander,
The Englishness of Christchurch was perfectly represented in that movie. Not least by casting one of its daughters; filming against the Gothic architecture; and having fantasy castles and knights in chainmail rather than pa and warriors.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Joe Wylie,
'argue on behalf of those that local government represent' ... promoting accountability
That's actually the Minister's job. Yule works for the equivalent of any peak sector representative organisation. We shouldn't expect LGNZ to say Council CEOs are overpaid unless most Councils have said that's their position.
It'd be as unexpected as Katherine Rich arguing that food retailers are gouging New Zealanders and should reduce the price of milk. Doesn't mean others can't do that.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Joe Wylie,
It's his job to argue on behalf of local government on matters like that, but Yule shows far more understanding of what the sector does than the current Minister has so far.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Sacha,
Ooh, Dompost commenter number 3 agrees with me (how convenient):
What i would really like Nick Smith to answer is, why is he implementing act party policy? Act polled down in the low single digits so there is hardly a mandate for this kind of policy.
Also - if Mr Smith is so concerned at rate rises - why is the answer more control from wellington and not more power for rate payers?
Why cant we decide what we want our councils to fund?
Daddy knows best.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Lilith __,
It's not like HNZ can keep up with demand
They could if they were adequately led and resourced. That's the problem, as it often is.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Sacha,
councils should not try to replicate services provided by central government
Councils localise coordination of services, to achieve local results they are accountable for. And as Lawrence Yule mentions, they end up funding or delivering some that neither government nor private sector have the stones to honour.
Maybe Smith is one of those scared little lads with control issues?
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Sacha,
Dr Smith said the Local Government Act gave councils responsibility over social, economic, cultural, and environmental wellbeing of a community, which created "false expectations".
The LGA also explicitly requires them to cooperate with other organisations including central government agencies to deliver outcomes in their area. Only without changing the power balance between them.
The Auckland supercity changes did a bit of that and you've already seen it play out in stoushes over transport, land planning and the Rugby World Cup event. Now here's the deliberate weakening of local power to keep government in control. Feeble insecure men do that sort of thing. They ought to be called out on it and told to get some help.
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Crucial issue discussed in that DomPost story - spot the difference in perspectives and ask yourself who is being more realistic:
Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule understood concern over the level of rates and debt increases but said that was mainly spent on infrastructure.
"We've got to have a conversation in New Zealand about what standards we want for things whether it's water, waste water, roads etc."
Many things councils did were not core services, but they had stepped in where the private sector and central government had failed. That included the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs, security patrols and CCTV cameras.
"One could argue that if the police were fully resourced and doing their job then the council shouldn't have to invest in that type of thing."
Millions of dollars had also been put into stadiums or the Rugby World Cup by councils.
"If that wasn't a core role of ours then who was going to do it? And we wouldn't have had the Rugby World Cup," Mr Yule said.
Dr Smith said the Local Government Act gave councils responsibility over social, economic, cultural, and environmental wellbeing of a community, which created "false expectations".
The proposed changes would require councils to provide "good quality local infrastructure, public services and regulatory functions at the least possible cost to households and business".
Dr Smith said council involvement in events such as arts festivals and firework displays could go ahead because they were public services.
But councils should not try to replicate services provided by central government or that could be supplied by the private sector.
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Hard News: A fiction of unalloyed darkness, in reply to Greg Dawson,
he'd be a cracking Prime Minister too
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to Sacha,
Cabinet might even be a bit flexible about what's ruled in and out
Unless their 'daddy knows best' brigade wins the day. Respect my authoritah, etc.