§
I
believe that this process is so anti democratic and flawed that I am bewildered
as to why a retired judge, or any other distinguished person, would wish to
give it any credence whatsoever. But be that as it may:
§
Ordinarily,
I would not offer statements of this type to Whangarei District Council (WDC)
as it is a complete waste of everyone's time. The mayor has made it
clear that his council ".. wouldn't
want ratepayer's money wasted listening to innate abject whingers[1]
… (and the like)". Hopefully, someone "independent" of
council may listen; who knows?;
§
I am not opposed to local body
reorganisation;
§
I am, however, totally opposed to the
method by which this proposal has surfaced and the campaign of misinformation
which has supported it.
In particular, the claim that the process is “independent” in any way
whatsoever is, I believe, fatuous nonsense and is unsupported by fact. It is
simply the Whangarei District Council (
§
I
believe that the manner in which this has been initiated and promoted is a
complete disgrace and an abuse of democratic processes. A sham process is being
used to ram council's prejudices down people's throats. While this is not
unexpected from this council it is, none the less, unacceptable.
§
There
is absolutely no public clamour for such reorganisation. To the best of my
knowledge, in the last three years there has not been a single submission to
annual or long term plans requesting a changed structure;
§
Further,
I understand that WDC has never raised the issue in either its long term plan
or in its annual plan process. There is neither any level of public expectation
for such change nor has
§
I
understand that the possibility was raised at a mayoral forum but, instead of
having an ordered process, with proper public participation, three mayors went
ahead with their own agendas. Northland Regional Council (NRC), quite
correctly, wouldn't have a bar of the flawed process and, subsequently, Kaipara
District also pulled out.
§
I
believe that the process adopted is ridiculous and undemocratic. The decision
to hire McKinlay Douglas as consultants was made by council. However, it was
not made in an advertised meeting of council and was not communicated in any
way to the public. The motion was passed, with next to no discussion (but, of
course, that is the norm at
Even though urgency was advanced for this there, clearly, was no urgency;
§
The
report was commissioned by three local authorities who, in the case of
§
On
receipt of the report, I understand that WDC altered the “independent”
consultant’s recommendation to suit their own purpose. They then stated their
own preference (which, surprise, surprise coincided with the altered
recommendation) and proceeded to carry out a series of “consultation” meetings
which were simply fronts to promote their own view;
§
They also
embarked on a one sided advertising campaign which did nothing other than state
their own prejudices. It was far from “independent” and simply reinforced the
partisan view that they had held since prior to the McKinlay Report[2]. In
addition, it was misrepresentative to suggest outcomes, such as more hip
operations, would occur if
§
There
is no real need. The only argument that I have seen advanced is that one has to
deal with two bodies and this causes confusion. Not only is this absolutely
ridiculous, it is totally unsupported by any fact whatsoever. How many
complaints were received by council? How many submissions were made to annual
and long term plans? I have not heard any argument advanced for such a change
by anyone other than WDC;
§
Not
even cost or efficiency – no-one is claiming any real cost savings or real
efficiency gains. In fact, overall it is likely to cost far more than at
present even without taking into account the massive restructuring costs;
§
For
what benefit? The only cost benefit being claimed is the need to deal with just
one authority – this is completely ludicrous and is unsupportable by fact. It
is significant that no facts, defining the extent of this “problem”, have been
published;
§
The
problems stated in the advertisements are fictitious illusions. If there are
any real issues they can easily be solved by definition and negotiation (see what should happen below);
§
Should
does not equate to will.
§
Claims
such as “we can do better” do not
bear scrutiny. The organisation promoting this campaign (
§
§
I believe that it is no coincidence that
the most undemocratic organisation by far in Northland (
§
Whangarei
District Council embarked on a series of advertisements which were misleading, meaningless,
one sided and infantile. And they cost ratepayers.
Almost all of these covered only the issue of the confusion in having to deal
with two councils. Except, it is not an issue. Council will not supply detail
of the number of complaints, I contend, because there are not any;
§
One of
these ads even intimated that you would have a better chance of getting a hip
replaced if you support a so-called "merger" and that your children
would be able to stay in Northland instead of moving away. The campaign is just
sanctimonious unsubstantiated drivel using ratepayer money to push a partisan
political view which, to my mind, makes it completely anti democratic;
§
Take
the one in the Whangarei Leader of 11
May. Each advertisement has a cartoon. The "problem" in this cartoon
could be simply handled by having a checklist with appropriate documentation.
It could be solved by the setting up of a "one stop shop". And,
longer term, it could be solved by having a single comprehensive plan for Northland.
It does not require a massive restructuring as is being talked about;
§
In any
case when you are building a house you need to deal with a plumber, an
electrician, a builder and so on. The same logic being applied here would mean
that these should all merge for the same reason (whatever that is!);
§
The
irony for me is that
§
The "Other
reasons to find out more" are equally as absurd:
o
We can do better: Sure you can, but does having monthly council
meetings that last just two minutes indicate any intent to do better? Or does
better mean abolishing public meetings altogether?
o
One tier, no buck passing: Where
is there any evidence that this happens. But, if it is an issue, do better and
solve it. It doesn't require massive change. For goodness sake,
o
A better, cleaner environment: Given Whangarei District's performance,
particularly on sewage spills, this is abject nonsense. I believe that they
only upgraded the Okara pumping station as they would not have received a consent to
discharge to the harbour had they not done so. Now, if they were a unitary
authority?;
o
A brighter future for our kids: Once again, this is abject nonsense. How
can this be achieved by splitting the regional council in three and adding in
the district council?;
o
o
Conversations are happening right around NZ:
Firstly, this is no conversation and the comment on being caught
unprepared like
So why wouldn't you wait and see what happens?
If the government decides that Northland will be governed in a particular way
(as it has with
§
Aucklanders’
opinions on their super city (NZ Herald,
14 May) make interesting reading with:
o
48.5%
of people claiming that it will not make
o
52.7%
saying that they will be worse off with a single council against 31.2% who feel
that they would be better off;
o
49.5%
who believe that it will not improve management of the region against 42.1% who
believe it will;
§
Surely
this tells us something about this Northland charade.
§
The
greatest problem with merging organisations is the "clash of
cultures".
As one who has experienced both councils my experience is:
o
I
would characterise
o
I
would characterise NRC as helpful, friendly, open and transparent. They have a
respect for democracy and welcome people's participation in it;
o
Chalk
and cheese if you like. I should point out that this is no criticism of the
staff at lower levels. Both organisations have some fine staff. The culture of
an organisation, however, spreads from the top. WDC must be a trial for many;
§
And,
where does this leave Kaipara? Are we going to split the NRC in three? And
hasn't the minister already said that Far North is too small to sustain a
unitary authority?
One of their silly ads mentions that one unitary authority would cover
the Far North and the other the Whangarei & Kaipara districts.
Problem: Despite
So why are we bothering with this nonsense
at all?;
§
I have
some experience of systems. Merging computer and office systems can be a
complete nightmare and will take considerably longer and cost considerably more
than whatever estimate is put forward;
§
In
addition, staff will be required to work with semi-merged systems for some
considerable time with a corresponding loss of productivity. Probably just
prior to it being taken apart and reorganised again!;
§
One of
the dumbest ideas put forward to the Waipu "consultation" meeting was
that, since some functions of the NRC would need to be Northland wide the two
unitary authorities would need to form a CCO to handle these functions – in
other words, a regional council accountable to no-one!
§
This
process should be rejected out of hand and be consigned to the scrap heap;
§
Councillors should individually be required
to reimburse ratepayers for their profligate wasting of ratepayer funds on this
charade;
§
Areas
where there are real issues should be properly identified and discussion held
between the parties as to how best these can be addressed within existing
structures;
§
Councils
must wait for the government's paper and then initiate an agreed and proper conversation with people to get their
ideas on future governance using guidelines within this paper;
§
If
there is to be change then it must be agreed that the approach towards whatever
form is decided is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In other words small
steps rather than a giant leap into the unknown;
§
The
process must start with proper conversations with citizens. As an example, get
people to present some options for local government at a series of workshops
and distil ideas from these workshops. Only then, engage a
"consultant" to put together a plan incorporating these ideas,
consistent with good governance and with the government’s discussion paper;
§
I
believe that this should explore a completely different strategy than now where
community boards are central to governance and a structure built up from these
boards (bottom up) rather than imposed from the top (top down).
In other words, boards determine what councils may do and not the other
way around. But, of course, this is just one idea that the public could advance
for consideration.
§
What
is the debt level now, Stan (after this silly process)?
15 May 2010