You will have read worrying figures of exploding council debt. You’ve noticed cost blowouts on everything your local council touches along with nonsensical projects that are nowhere near the top of the tree in terms of urgency – things any normal thinking person would scratch their head at if they were planning and paying for it at work or home. And if you have ever had to deal with council directly on a building consent or resource consent, you couldn’t help but conclude that your council is no longer working for you. We all know – including them – that the system is broken and no longer fit for purpose.
The good news is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Ask around and you will find many other people are also wondering if they are the only ones witnessing this nonsensical madness and wondering why nobody is stopping it.
Most people are practical and common-sense workers, businesses and industries who are busy keeping New Zealand functioning, paying taxes and employing others, while navigating their own work, their family’s problems and daily life. They don’t have enough time to take much interest in council politics – yes, those people in which we used to trust. This is why the bureaucracy thinks it’s winning.
The level of anger in communities around the country is boiling over about outrageous project costs, the ample supply of asphalt for speed bumps and painting colourful rainbow crossings – but none to fill in potholes or fund core essential items. Practical people are fed up with fake consultation for predetermined decisions and gaslighting media releases.
The apathy that has marred previous elections is transforming into activism by people demanding change.
How Did We Get Here?
Originally, councils had a simple, clear purpose: Councils in New Zealand were formed in 1876 by merging local water and road boards. The singular purpose was to allow local people to pool resources (e.g. money collected through rates) to work for the greater good of the local community. Acting together at a large scale is more efficient and productive than individuals doing separate systems for roads, water, libraries, and rubbish collection.
Early councils comprised of and were staffed by the affected landowners donating their time, with a single employee, the town clerk. Even today two thirds of council spending is on these core services. Throughout most of the 20th century, councillors were paid a stipend (a small payment per meeting) and employed a handful of staff to manage contracts with local firms.
Then things started to change: Councils expanded organically with construction and ownership of public assets such as parks and libraries. About half of council’s remaining spending goes on property assets, yet to be fair, elected representatives have an obvious lack of expertise in building and property management knowledge. This began a trend to glamorous pet projects such as stadiums, theatres and even zoos, undertaken largely using borrowed money. We see examples of this around us every day.
Additional collective services were added to benefit the whole community, most notably (and usefully for urban areas) rubbish collection. However, this began a trend towards new services for small special interest groups at the expense of the wider community and councils now collect money from ratepayers to give away as grants. Elected representatives like to take the credit for this largesse and initiative, rather than us the people who actually paid the rates. Although a tiny part of council spending, the profile of giving other people’s money away attracts social activists to stand for election and for such people to then expand council staff numbers into socialist-style areas without any financial accountability. They are paid full-time salaries to spend our money on countless non-essential, vanity projects.
Central government uses local councils for regulatory functions that are inefficient to run from Wellington. This makes reasonable sense in theory, but it doesn’t mean it’s more efficient to run them locally. Rather, it makes government ministries ‘books’ look a little better by off-loading the administrative costs on ratepayers instead of taxpayers. Building consents, resource consents, liquor licensing, noise control and dog control add even more layers of bureaucratic complexity, adding council influence and interpretation by individuals with their own agendas, personal and otherwise – again at our expense with no accountability.
The result is an ad-hoc Frankenstein’s monster of assorted parts that is not suited to delivering core functions, is not fit for purpose and is inefficient, slow, cumbersome and no longer aligned cost-effectively with the community’s well-being.
Many councils have evolved into platforms for loud-mouthed idealistic activists pushing their own social agendas while the silent majority of ratepayers are ignored.
What’s Wrong with Councils Today?
It has become clear that some aspects of council work are no longer achieving greater efficiency or productivity. There are many examples such as $700,000 to move a bus stop, wasting communities’ limited resources. There are too many examples to list, and we’ve all seen and heard them across NZ, leading to the inevitable conclusion bureaucracy is out of control.
It has also become apparent that other aspects of council work are no longer being done for the greater good. Speed bump “traffic calming” is intended to frustrate people out of cars, which is social engineering by unelected officials pushing their own agendas. Councils are using their privileged and protected platform, directly using your money against you and with your permission because we are allowing it.
They’re financially irresponsible: Section 100 of the Local Government Act 2002 requires councils to ensure income covers expenses. Yet most councils run substantial deficits every year. They cover the shortfall with borrowed money, which you are personally tied to as a homeowner. It is like a family living off a credit card – any business director doing this would be prosecuted for operating while insolvent. Think of it as an ever-increasing, out of control Ponzi Scheme where they’re borrowing or increasing costs eternally to fund idealistic, non-essential idiocy at your cost and kicking the can down the road until they get the next job. Most aren’t required to take any responsibility other than to improve their own resume, employment opportunities and job security is the sad fact of it.
They’re not accountable: Our elected and executive representatives seem to be incapable of managing finances, holding staff to account or even listening to the people anymore. Rates rises are consistently higher than inflation, which means we are becoming worse off every year and it’s exploding exponentially. For many, especially those on fixed incomes, it has reached breaking point and it’s not going to stop unless we do something about it, so the first step is reading this.
They’re coordinating against communities: The infiltration by activists in Hamilton as an example was exposed by the “Innovating Streets” initiative as a simple but well-known example. It was rolled out by councils across the country at the same time, proving that officials were blatantly conspiring with each other right in front of us all.
There was nothing innovative about it. The same ideas had been tried in Europe under different names and as part of the ludicrous 15-minute cities concept. The battle is real, not conspiracy. Fact, not theory.
Hamilton’s Ward Street, part of the Innovating Streets initiative, saw a section of the road closed off, disrupting CBD traffic flows, removing parking essential for the survival of small businesses, Auckland’s no better and installing furniture for non-existent pedestrians. There is no other way to describe these types of initiatives other than costly, non-essential vanity projects. Meanwhile repairs and more worthy projects are binned or pushed down the priority list as there’s no kudos in them for staff or councillors.
Why Government Solutions Won’t Work Alone
Successive governments have recognised parts of the problem. The Key government tried to fix Auckland’s dysfunctional council with the Super City amalgamation in 2010. A major part of that process was the establishment of Auckland Transport as a separate organisation in recognition that the councils had failed to manage roads properly. The Ardern government started a process to disingenuously remove water services from councils (3 waters), for a similar reason they would argue. The non-fit for purpose over cumbersome Resource Management Act is administered by councils to issue consents but stifles essential infrastructure development, causing crippling delays and expense to private enterprise and the public. These are core services for councils, so failure in these areas demonstrates a fundamental failure in the system that is completely unworkable.
Prime Minister Luxon has criticised councils and is demanding a ‘back to basics’ approach. We all wait in anticipation for legislation that should follow in 2025-26. While this is hugely positive news, it is an example of the adage “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”.
Parliament’s only tool is to pass laws and unfortunately, they still struggle to grasp what’s really going on at the coal face. Many times, over I’ve personally experienced this when dealing with government executives and ministers, and it’s a real worry. Changing attitudes of staff embedded in councils is a different problem yet again and an equal worry. This is not an easy battle, but we can win it.
We can’t rely on politicians to fix politics. We must do it ourselves, we all know what happens when the fox is guarding the chicken house only too well.
Our Solution: Take Political Control of Councils
The October 2025 council elections are our best chance to make a positive start to fix councils. If we don’t, and they continue unchanged, we are certainly a wild bull charging toward a guaranteed cliff, and communities will have no one to blame but themselves.
Another three years of this ludicrous woke indoctrination, rates rises, debt blowouts, rainbow crossings and monuments, red tape and misfeasance in many cases, will progressively cripple our already struggling country already crippled by this gross mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility. We need to work together to stop the rot from management down, and turn councils back into logical, sensible and effective public servants, a role they seem to have forgotten.
To achieve this will mean taking political control. We need a team with a majority of councillors to vote for the necessary change. The team needs to replace many of the current councillors with new, fresh-thinking candidates aligned to financially savvy goals. First-term councillors need support, not indoctrination by existing councillors and staff, so the team needs experts outside council equipped with advice to counteract the manipulation by council staff and their agendas.
Different ways you can help:
Those of you who can spare the time to stand for council as a new councillor or mayor – we all sincerely as a community thank you. I urge you to read and understand all of this and form a network with like-minded people.
Some of you will prefer to help in the background within your own areas of expertise, and for that we are grateful also. Take from this guide as much as you need and link up with good candidates.
Most of you just need to support the network and new like-minded councillors. You will know who to support because they will acknowledge this ethos in their statements. Support can be financial, spare time, connections, marketing or simply inspiring people to vote.
It will be hard because most people have given up on councils not listening to them, but we need you as a community to please try.
We’re Not Fighting Alone
There are many other groups, such as Residents & Ratepayers associations and unions, Challenging Councils, CityWatchNZ.org, Voices for Freedom, Groundswell, Muriel and Frank Newmans NZCPR government watchdog and reporting site, Hobsons Pledge to name a few, who are looking at other ways to push back on many fronts. We must commend and support anyone or group you align with who is trying to do so for the good of the community, as we know councils are resistant to change. Pressure from both inside the tent and outside is needed.
The reason councils have become corrupted is that the public has been divided. We need to work together on common ground, while recognising and respecting that we all have differences, cultural backgrounds, interests and areas of focus. There are many issues you’ll begin to think of but let’s stick to the basic formula without going down endless rabbit holes for now, so that we all grasp the magnitude of the situation. That’s what’s important to focus on.
The structural change I am highlighting will allow communities to make decisions on these issues, and much more, later as we progress. My own desire is to fix the building and development consenting system, but that will happen a bit further down the track, after we have formed alliances and understanding to fix the core problems.
Understanding Our Tools
You may not know this, but you can also do it by use of a simple Official Information Request (OIA) that any person can obtain, as of right, from a council if you suspect any shenanigan’s towards you, your project or involving your council’s inner workings – so let’s begin.
Most of the information in this series of editorials is aimed to educate the public with a common understanding of the problems and solutions so they can work together. The final part of this series is an outline of what is necessary to run a successful campaign but more so – successful, fiscally responsible, transparent and accountable councils throughout NZ.
Key Election Dates
9-22 September 2025 – Voting documents delivered
7 October 2025 – Last day for posting vote by mail. After this date votes must be returned to council’s secure ballot boxes
11 October 2025 at 12 noon – Election Day – voting closes midday
11 October 2025 from 12 noon – Progress results
16-22 October 2025 – Declaration of results
October/November 2025 – Elected members’ swearing in ceremonies
What You Need to Do Now
This series of conversations is to help YOU take on councils across New Zealand but more so it starts with knowing what’s going on and discussing it with others and keeping an interest. If it was your own household or work environment you’d do exactly the same, so it is important if you care about your kids and family’s future please just try to understand and become aware, as that in itself is half the battle won, just in the knowing.
Don’t stay quiet. Compare notes with others, use social media (while you still can) but above all things don’t be silent. There will be several follow up articles in succession – please talk about and share with your friends, family colleagues and all. I’m not precious here but make sure you vote for the right people. It’s your choice but please be educated first.
It will be hard because most people have given up on councils not listening to them, but we need you as a community to please try.
Acknowledgment
It is important to acknowledge that a good portion of this information I have taken from an excellent paper written by Andrew Bydder, a Hamilton City Councillor. He has done such a good job of simplifying a very murky and complicated subject which is an absolute credit to him. I felt it a public duty to share this across NZ and there will be two more articles covering this in more simplified easily understood detail.
Andrew spent 30 years working with councils from the outside, as an architectural designer and property developer, before being elected to Hamilton City Council in 2022. He, like myself and many others, continue to fight the ever-increasing bureaucracy that has transformed resource consents from simple one-page applications to multi-year, 1,000-page lists of ridiculous, unworkable diatribe that has now regulated first home buyers out of the ‘affordable market’. Consenting has evolved into a mammoth, multi-page and multi-consultant projects that are extremely expensive and deliver no discernible benefit other than covering council staff butts and ensuring their own personal views on life and agenda’s are fulfilled at our expense. This is not opinion, as I can and will personally back this up with indisputable evidence of the activities of various councils across the country.
Frustrated, Andrew started looking into council structure, joining the Hamilton Residents and Ratepayers Association, and writing a weekly column for the Waikato Times on council failures. Since getting elected and inside the tent, Andrew dug deeper into the internal organisation, working out where the problems are and how to fix them. Again, I and many others have experienced and can fully vouch for exactly the same, so compare with others, talk, engage in social media but above all don’t be silent or the blame for allowing this will fall right at our doors.
Let’s absorb that for now and prepare for the next segment and issue we’ll delve into – WHAT REALLY ARE THE PROBLEMS?
Most people are practical and common-sense workers, businesses and industries who are busy keeping New Zealand functioning, paying taxes and employing others, while navigating their own work, their family’s problems and daily life. They don’t have enough time to take much interest in council politics – yes, those people in which we used to trust. This is why the bureaucracy thinks it’s winning.
The level of anger in communities around the country is boiling over about outrageous project costs, the ample supply of asphalt for speed bumps and painting colourful rainbow crossings – but none to fill in potholes or fund core essential items. Practical people are fed up with fake consultation for predetermined decisions and gaslighting media releases.
The apathy that has marred previous elections is transforming into activism by people demanding change.
How Did We Get Here?
Originally, councils had a simple, clear purpose: Councils in New Zealand were formed in 1876 by merging local water and road boards. The singular purpose was to allow local people to pool resources (e.g. money collected through rates) to work for the greater good of the local community. Acting together at a large scale is more efficient and productive than individuals doing separate systems for roads, water, libraries, and rubbish collection.
Early councils comprised of and were staffed by the affected landowners donating their time, with a single employee, the town clerk. Even today two thirds of council spending is on these core services. Throughout most of the 20th century, councillors were paid a stipend (a small payment per meeting) and employed a handful of staff to manage contracts with local firms.
Then things started to change: Councils expanded organically with construction and ownership of public assets such as parks and libraries. About half of council’s remaining spending goes on property assets, yet to be fair, elected representatives have an obvious lack of expertise in building and property management knowledge. This began a trend to glamorous pet projects such as stadiums, theatres and even zoos, undertaken largely using borrowed money. We see examples of this around us every day.
Additional collective services were added to benefit the whole community, most notably (and usefully for urban areas) rubbish collection. However, this began a trend towards new services for small special interest groups at the expense of the wider community and councils now collect money from ratepayers to give away as grants. Elected representatives like to take the credit for this largesse and initiative, rather than us the people who actually paid the rates. Although a tiny part of council spending, the profile of giving other people’s money away attracts social activists to stand for election and for such people to then expand council staff numbers into socialist-style areas without any financial accountability. They are paid full-time salaries to spend our money on countless non-essential, vanity projects.
Central government uses local councils for regulatory functions that are inefficient to run from Wellington. This makes reasonable sense in theory, but it doesn’t mean it’s more efficient to run them locally. Rather, it makes government ministries ‘books’ look a little better by off-loading the administrative costs on ratepayers instead of taxpayers. Building consents, resource consents, liquor licensing, noise control and dog control add even more layers of bureaucratic complexity, adding council influence and interpretation by individuals with their own agendas, personal and otherwise – again at our expense with no accountability.
The result is an ad-hoc Frankenstein’s monster of assorted parts that is not suited to delivering core functions, is not fit for purpose and is inefficient, slow, cumbersome and no longer aligned cost-effectively with the community’s well-being.
Many councils have evolved into platforms for loud-mouthed idealistic activists pushing their own social agendas while the silent majority of ratepayers are ignored.
What’s Wrong with Councils Today?
It has become clear that some aspects of council work are no longer achieving greater efficiency or productivity. There are many examples such as $700,000 to move a bus stop, wasting communities’ limited resources. There are too many examples to list, and we’ve all seen and heard them across NZ, leading to the inevitable conclusion bureaucracy is out of control.
It has also become apparent that other aspects of council work are no longer being done for the greater good. Speed bump “traffic calming” is intended to frustrate people out of cars, which is social engineering by unelected officials pushing their own agendas. Councils are using their privileged and protected platform, directly using your money against you and with your permission because we are allowing it.
They’re financially irresponsible: Section 100 of the Local Government Act 2002 requires councils to ensure income covers expenses. Yet most councils run substantial deficits every year. They cover the shortfall with borrowed money, which you are personally tied to as a homeowner. It is like a family living off a credit card – any business director doing this would be prosecuted for operating while insolvent. Think of it as an ever-increasing, out of control Ponzi Scheme where they’re borrowing or increasing costs eternally to fund idealistic, non-essential idiocy at your cost and kicking the can down the road until they get the next job. Most aren’t required to take any responsibility other than to improve their own resume, employment opportunities and job security is the sad fact of it.
They’re not accountable: Our elected and executive representatives seem to be incapable of managing finances, holding staff to account or even listening to the people anymore. Rates rises are consistently higher than inflation, which means we are becoming worse off every year and it’s exploding exponentially. For many, especially those on fixed incomes, it has reached breaking point and it’s not going to stop unless we do something about it, so the first step is reading this.
They’re coordinating against communities: The infiltration by activists in Hamilton as an example was exposed by the “Innovating Streets” initiative as a simple but well-known example. It was rolled out by councils across the country at the same time, proving that officials were blatantly conspiring with each other right in front of us all.
There was nothing innovative about it. The same ideas had been tried in Europe under different names and as part of the ludicrous 15-minute cities concept. The battle is real, not conspiracy. Fact, not theory.
Hamilton’s Ward Street, part of the Innovating Streets initiative, saw a section of the road closed off, disrupting CBD traffic flows, removing parking essential for the survival of small businesses, Auckland’s no better and installing furniture for non-existent pedestrians. There is no other way to describe these types of initiatives other than costly, non-essential vanity projects. Meanwhile repairs and more worthy projects are binned or pushed down the priority list as there’s no kudos in them for staff or councillors.
Why Government Solutions Won’t Work Alone
Successive governments have recognised parts of the problem. The Key government tried to fix Auckland’s dysfunctional council with the Super City amalgamation in 2010. A major part of that process was the establishment of Auckland Transport as a separate organisation in recognition that the councils had failed to manage roads properly. The Ardern government started a process to disingenuously remove water services from councils (3 waters), for a similar reason they would argue. The non-fit for purpose over cumbersome Resource Management Act is administered by councils to issue consents but stifles essential infrastructure development, causing crippling delays and expense to private enterprise and the public. These are core services for councils, so failure in these areas demonstrates a fundamental failure in the system that is completely unworkable.
Prime Minister Luxon has criticised councils and is demanding a ‘back to basics’ approach. We all wait in anticipation for legislation that should follow in 2025-26. While this is hugely positive news, it is an example of the adage “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”.
Parliament’s only tool is to pass laws and unfortunately, they still struggle to grasp what’s really going on at the coal face. Many times, over I’ve personally experienced this when dealing with government executives and ministers, and it’s a real worry. Changing attitudes of staff embedded in councils is a different problem yet again and an equal worry. This is not an easy battle, but we can win it.
We can’t rely on politicians to fix politics. We must do it ourselves, we all know what happens when the fox is guarding the chicken house only too well.
Our Solution: Take Political Control of Councils
The October 2025 council elections are our best chance to make a positive start to fix councils. If we don’t, and they continue unchanged, we are certainly a wild bull charging toward a guaranteed cliff, and communities will have no one to blame but themselves.
Another three years of this ludicrous woke indoctrination, rates rises, debt blowouts, rainbow crossings and monuments, red tape and misfeasance in many cases, will progressively cripple our already struggling country already crippled by this gross mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility. We need to work together to stop the rot from management down, and turn councils back into logical, sensible and effective public servants, a role they seem to have forgotten.
To achieve this will mean taking political control. We need a team with a majority of councillors to vote for the necessary change. The team needs to replace many of the current councillors with new, fresh-thinking candidates aligned to financially savvy goals. First-term councillors need support, not indoctrination by existing councillors and staff, so the team needs experts outside council equipped with advice to counteract the manipulation by council staff and their agendas.
Different ways you can help:
Those of you who can spare the time to stand for council as a new councillor or mayor – we all sincerely as a community thank you. I urge you to read and understand all of this and form a network with like-minded people.
Some of you will prefer to help in the background within your own areas of expertise, and for that we are grateful also. Take from this guide as much as you need and link up with good candidates.
Most of you just need to support the network and new like-minded councillors. You will know who to support because they will acknowledge this ethos in their statements. Support can be financial, spare time, connections, marketing or simply inspiring people to vote.
It will be hard because most people have given up on councils not listening to them, but we need you as a community to please try.
We’re Not Fighting Alone
There are many other groups, such as Residents & Ratepayers associations and unions, Challenging Councils, CityWatchNZ.org, Voices for Freedom, Groundswell, Muriel and Frank Newmans NZCPR government watchdog and reporting site, Hobsons Pledge to name a few, who are looking at other ways to push back on many fronts. We must commend and support anyone or group you align with who is trying to do so for the good of the community, as we know councils are resistant to change. Pressure from both inside the tent and outside is needed.
The reason councils have become corrupted is that the public has been divided. We need to work together on common ground, while recognising and respecting that we all have differences, cultural backgrounds, interests and areas of focus. There are many issues you’ll begin to think of but let’s stick to the basic formula without going down endless rabbit holes for now, so that we all grasp the magnitude of the situation. That’s what’s important to focus on.
The structural change I am highlighting will allow communities to make decisions on these issues, and much more, later as we progress. My own desire is to fix the building and development consenting system, but that will happen a bit further down the track, after we have formed alliances and understanding to fix the core problems.
Understanding Our Tools
You may not know this, but you can also do it by use of a simple Official Information Request (OIA) that any person can obtain, as of right, from a council if you suspect any shenanigan’s towards you, your project or involving your council’s inner workings – so let’s begin.
Most of the information in this series of editorials is aimed to educate the public with a common understanding of the problems and solutions so they can work together. The final part of this series is an outline of what is necessary to run a successful campaign but more so – successful, fiscally responsible, transparent and accountable councils throughout NZ.
Key Election Dates
9-22 September 2025 – Voting documents delivered
7 October 2025 – Last day for posting vote by mail. After this date votes must be returned to council’s secure ballot boxes
11 October 2025 at 12 noon – Election Day – voting closes midday
11 October 2025 from 12 noon – Progress results
16-22 October 2025 – Declaration of results
October/November 2025 – Elected members’ swearing in ceremonies
What You Need to Do Now
This series of conversations is to help YOU take on councils across New Zealand but more so it starts with knowing what’s going on and discussing it with others and keeping an interest. If it was your own household or work environment you’d do exactly the same, so it is important if you care about your kids and family’s future please just try to understand and become aware, as that in itself is half the battle won, just in the knowing.
Don’t stay quiet. Compare notes with others, use social media (while you still can) but above all things don’t be silent. There will be several follow up articles in succession – please talk about and share with your friends, family colleagues and all. I’m not precious here but make sure you vote for the right people. It’s your choice but please be educated first.
It will be hard because most people have given up on councils not listening to them, but we need you as a community to please try.
Acknowledgment
It is important to acknowledge that a good portion of this information I have taken from an excellent paper written by Andrew Bydder, a Hamilton City Councillor. He has done such a good job of simplifying a very murky and complicated subject which is an absolute credit to him. I felt it a public duty to share this across NZ and there will be two more articles covering this in more simplified easily understood detail.
Andrew spent 30 years working with councils from the outside, as an architectural designer and property developer, before being elected to Hamilton City Council in 2022. He, like myself and many others, continue to fight the ever-increasing bureaucracy that has transformed resource consents from simple one-page applications to multi-year, 1,000-page lists of ridiculous, unworkable diatribe that has now regulated first home buyers out of the ‘affordable market’. Consenting has evolved into a mammoth, multi-page and multi-consultant projects that are extremely expensive and deliver no discernible benefit other than covering council staff butts and ensuring their own personal views on life and agenda’s are fulfilled at our expense. This is not opinion, as I can and will personally back this up with indisputable evidence of the activities of various councils across the country.
Frustrated, Andrew started looking into council structure, joining the Hamilton Residents and Ratepayers Association, and writing a weekly column for the Waikato Times on council failures. Since getting elected and inside the tent, Andrew dug deeper into the internal organisation, working out where the problems are and how to fix them. Again, I and many others have experienced and can fully vouch for exactly the same, so compare with others, talk, engage in social media but above all don’t be silent or the blame for allowing this will fall right at our doors.
Let’s absorb that for now and prepare for the next segment and issue we’ll delve into – WHAT REALLY ARE THE PROBLEMS?
Remember: “It is so easy to be wrong — and to persist in being wrong — when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.” — Thomas Sowell
Garry Robertson is one of New Zealand's biggest aggregators of land. This article was sourced HERE
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