Clive Bibby: A Betrayal of Trust

MMP was supposed to fix problems associated with political representation at the highest level of decision making. Yet for all its promotion as the most democratic form of government, we still witness examples of remote communities being allowed to fall through the cracks - and in that context, it would appear nothing much has changed from the bad old days.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's the real issue impacting local councils

So I was in Christchurch giving a speech to part of Local Government New Zealand - the South Island arm - so the room was full of mayors and councillors from across the South Island.

One of the topics up for discussion was what councils around the country need to do, or could do, to win back public approval. I have to be honest: I left that room - and you know my views on councils - feeling just a little bit sorry for the councillors and mayors I met.

Penn Raine: Where are the spads when Chris Luxon needs them?

In the country formerly known as NZ there are no official spads or special advisors as there are in Britain.

The spad is an unelected position made by government ministers or local councils whose appointee will tell bosses what they want to hear and generally confirm all their prejudices. They are allegedly of a different stripe from the civil service which my sources amusingly describe as ‘neutral’ and unlikely to have political bias.

Reynold Macpherson: An Open Letter to the Editor and to the Mayor and Councillors of Rotorua Lakes Council

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCILLORS OF ROTORUA LAKES COUNCIL

In February 2025, Rotorua Lakes Council, under Mayor Tapsell’s leadership, transferred decisive influence over Rotorua’s long-term direction to the Te Arawa 2050 Vision Committee. Whether readers support or oppose that arrangement is not the issue. In a democracy, the threshold requirement is that significant shifts in power are transparent, contestable, and subject to ongoing and informed public consent.

Reynold Macpherson: Te Arawa 2050: Who Decides, Who Pays, and Who Is Accountable?

The launch of the Te Arawa 2050 Committee a year ago was framed as a gesture of goodwill and partnership within Rotorua Lakes Council. Many welcomed its stated aim: to give Te Arawa fair and proportionate influence in council policymaking. That objective was legitimate and long overdue. A year on, however, it is clear that goodwill cannot substitute for clarity—especially when households face sustained rates pressure and councils are being urged to live within tighter fiscal limits.

Clive Bibby: Our future in the Hands of Amateurs

This column is not meant to be an attack on the integrity of those in charge of regional business - simply an attempt at drawing attention to the inadequate responses by Council to our real needs.

Here on the East Coast, we lurch from one damaging climate event to the next yet the response from Council appears to be one of an ambulance parked up at the bottom of the cliff.

Ryan Bridge: Rate caps are happening, but will they work?

This rates cap is popular politics, no doubt, and local government needs a good kick in the pants.

But does a 2-4% band simply mean we're going to pay more in other fees?

Rates aren't the only way these guys make money off us, we also pay for specific things like resource and building consents, LIM requests, dog registrations, and campgrounds.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Are local councils competent enough to meet rate caps?

The Government has announced the details on its plan for rates caps - councils will be capped at 4%.They will not be able to raise their rates by more than 4%, and the plan will start being implemented in a couple of years' time, sort of mid 27, and then will be fully in place by mid 2029.

David Round - Thoughts for our Time - Article 10

The English Civil Wars, which culminated in the beheading of the king on the 30th of January 1649, had been preceded by a long period of widespread discontent and growing public anger. Four years after coming to the throne, Charles had embarked on what his opponents called the ‘Eleven Years Tyranny’; eleven long years when the king did not once summon a parliament, and attempted to survive financially not by Parliamentary grants but by a variety of increasingly resented expedients ~ the sale of monopolies and honours, forced loans ~ and the king also had the ancient right to imprison without cause, which he imposed on those who did not care to lend him money ~ and the rigorous enforcement of ancient prerogatives, many of which, indeed, had long fallen into disuse and been half forgotten. Prominent among such prerogatives was the right to levy ‘Ship Money’. Originally coastal towns had been obliged to provide ships for the navy, but this had long been commuted to a monetary payment which the king could demand in time of war for the defence of the realm. Parliament alone, of course, had the right to impose new taxes and impositions on subjects, but it was perfectly lawful for the king to exercise rights he already possessed.

Ryan Bridge: Complaining about councils, yet again

Just when you thought local council couldn’t get more absurd and extravagant, they’ve dreamt up a new way to not make decisions. To do less, with more.

Citizens assemblies. A crackpot idea the Romans once used. But Romans did lots of weird stuff we stopped doing, and this should be one of them.