Don't fear the new mega-ministry While today’s mega-ministry announcement has drawn plenty of hype and concern, it’s the wider reform programme already in motion that will have the greatest impact on the economy, communities, and the...

For all the hype around today’s mega-ministry announcement, it’s the replacement of the Resource Management Act and local government reforms already underway that will have the biggest impact on councils, communities, the environment, and the economy.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/dont-fear-...

Transparency win: Ombudsman says Greater Wellington's closed workshop practices "unreasonable" In Local Aotearoa’s biggest transparency win so far, the Ombudsman has told Greater Wellington Regional Council that its practice of closing all workshops to the public is unreasonable.

It's Local Aotearoa's biggest transparency win so far: the Ombudsman has, in a provisional opinion, told Greater Wellington Regional Council that their practice of closing workshops to the public is unreasonable. ✊
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/transparen...

Will Kāpiti shape reorganisation, or be shaped by it? Kāpiti is at a crossroads. Whether we join an amalgamated council or choose to remain independent, our leaders must front up and engage in good faith. Opting out means giving up our community’s abilit...

Kāpiti is at a crossroads. With a fresh push for regional reorganisation underway, our leaders must engage in good faith with this new process. Opting out again means losing our community's ability to shape and ultimately decide our own future.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/will-kapit...

Once more unto the Wellington amalgamation breach Yes, you read that correctly: the Wellington region is once again gearing up for another push at amalgamation, so I’ve put together 10 recommendations on how our leaders might approach things differen...

The Wellington region is once again gearing up for another push at local government reorganisation. If amalgamation is back on the table, we owe it to our communities to get the process right. So what can we do differently to avoid the mistakes of the past?
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/once-more-...

Looming transparency win: Upper Hutt set to open up workshops In what looks likely to be another transparency win for Local Aotearoa, Upper Hutt City Council is set to consider whether to finally make their workshops and briefings “open to the public by default”...

In another transparency win, Upper Hutt is set to open its council workshops, joining Wellington, Hutt City, and Porirua in lifting transparency.

Greater Wellington is now the holdout. It’s time they met the same standards their communities deserve.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/looming-tr...

Even the Government’s own departments are trying to warn them about the dangers of keeping rates increases artificially low by underfunding infrastructure.

Simon Watts: The Minister Against Local Democracy For a man who once sang a tune about the value of localism when it suited him, Local Government Minister Simon Watts now seems intent on stripping communities of the power that matters most: the abili...

After a year of Simon Watts as Local Government Minister, the direction is unmistakable: less local voice, more central control.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/simon-watt...

Coalition lays groundwork for local government amalgamations In what may become the most consequential restructuring of local government since the 1989 reforms, the National-led Coalition Government has taken the first formal step towards large-scale council am...

The Coalition keeps saying it isn’t going to force council amalgamations, but its new local government proposal funnels regions straight towards them, with the Local Government Minister having the final say. 👇
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/coalition-...

Oversold or not, a shake-up is coming for local government In the biggest hint yet that time is about to be called on the existence of regional councils , Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has repeatedly told media over the last two days that the Government ha...

Big changes are coming for local government. “Radical simplification” might be overselling things, but shifting to a single-tier of local government is still the biggest change since 1989.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/oversold-o...

Wellington's endless amalgamation debate: here we go again... Voters in Porirua and Lower Hutt have opened the door for a possible unitary council for the Wellington region - a move that reignites one of local government’s most persistent and divisive debates.

Feeling a sense of supercity déjà vu? Wellington’s push for a single unitary council is back for another round. 🥊
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/wellington...

Stand up for local democracy - or lose it As voters switch off, power shifts further towards the Beehive.

When The Washington Post introduced its slogan “Democracy dies in darkness”, it was warning about the dangers of an unaccountable government and a weakened fourth estate. But what happens when the darkness isn’t censorship or a vanishing press, but apathy?
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/stand-up-f...

So, you’ve been elected: A former councillor’s survival guide As the dust settles on this year’s local government elections, a new group of freshly elected and returning councillors are preparing themselves to tackle the coming triennium.

From making sure you've read all your council papers through to the special joy of reply all emails, a former district councillor shares his advice to help the incoming 2025 cohort of councillors, mayors, and chairs survive the coming triennium.
open.substack.com/pub/localaot...

Vote before 12 noon, Saturday 11 October! If you haven’t already, please remember to cast your vote in your local government elections.

Love local democracy? 🧡

Show it by making sure to cast your votes in your local government elections by 12 noon, Saturday 11 October. 🗳
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/vote-befor...

Greater Wellington candidates want to open up workshops and briefings The majority of Greater Wellington Regional Council candidates who responded to a question from Local Aotearoa want the council to open up its closed-door workshops and briefings to the public, bringi...

A big tick for more transparency! ☑️ That's the message from GWRC candidates who responded to a question about whether they supported the council opening up its currently closed-door workshops and briefings in line with most other councils.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/greater-we...

Three Kāpiti mayoral candidates share views on amalgamation Wellington local government amalgamation has implications for Kāpiti regardless of whether we’re in or out of a hypothetical regional entity.

Local Aotearoa reached out to Kāpiti's six mayoral candidates to give them an opportunity to share their views on Kāpiti's role in any possible amalgamation of councils in the Wellington region.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/three-kapi...

Councillors and risk committee kept in dark over Ombudsman's warning EXCLUSIVE: Greater Wellington Regional Council’s CEO and its Chair kept both councillors and their Finance, Risk and Assurance Committee completely in the dark about a warning letter from the Ombudsma...

Greater Wellington's CEO and Chair kept a warning letter from the Ombudsman secret from councillors and their risk committee, raising questions about the commitment of GWRC's two most senior figures to basic principles of transparency and accountability.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councillor...

Councillor channels Trump: attacks "political enemies", opposes transparency One Kāpiti Coast District Councillor has echoed the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump in railing against her perceived “political enemies”.

Investing in professional development is a positive thing, but with public money it comes with transparency and accountability. So what's with a Kāpiti Coast councillor launching a Trumpian attack on their "political enemies" over a LGOIMA request?
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councillor...

ACT candidate claims refusal to answer question due to "Aotearoa" was a joke Between you and me, the key thing about a joke - perhaps the single most important defining element, arguably the main aspect which separates it from being confused or misconstrued, the bit that makes...

The key thing about a joke - perhaps its most important defining element - is that it’s funny.

We'll leave it up to you to decide if a candidate joking about te reo Māori is funny and what doing so instead of answering an easy question says about them.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/act-candid...

ACT council candidate can't answer question due to "Aotearoa" It was a simple question on whether or not candidates thought Greater Wellington Regional Council should open up its workshops and briefings as recommended by the Ombudsman.

I mean, if even King Charles III can use Aotearoa to refer to our country… 🤷‍♂️
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/act-counci...

Candidates can't cut councillors' pay, and for good reason Controversial opinion: Local government politicians are generally underpaid for the role they perform.

Another day, another dumb campaign policy to call out.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/candidates...

From flood fiasco to looming landslide: Wayne Brown's mayoral turnaround Few mayoralties have gotten off to a worse start than Wayne Brown’s.

Despite early setbacks, Wayne Brown has used the profile, powers, and resources of Auckland's mayoralty in a way that his predecessors were unwilling to embrace. He now looks set to win an even bigger electoral landslide than he achieved in 2022.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/from-flood...

As we've been saying...

Rates capping: lazy politics for lazy politicians With Local Government Minister Simon Watts working on a rates capping policy to go to Cabinet before Christmas, it’s worth calling out the idea for what it is - lazy politics for lazy politicians.

The reality is rates capping is a choice between investing now or leaving our kids and grandkids to pick up the tab for our short-sightedness. It's almost as if we've learnt nothing from the decades of under-investment in three waters infrastructure. 🤦‍♂️
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/rates-capp...

Colourful kites but empty ideas? The art of political kite flying One of my favourite parts of local government elections (and Parliamentary ones too) is the time-honoured tradition of kite flying.

It’s easy to talk up alternative visions when the people floating them aren’t paying. The real challenge is delivering realistic, funded proposals. If someone’s colourful kite flying doesn’t come with a price tag and a plan, you’re right to be sceptical.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/colourful-...

Colourful kites but empty ideas? The art of political kite flying One of my favourite parts of local government elections (and Parliamentary ones too) is the time-honoured tradition of kite flying.

In politics, some kites take off and become real, useful projects. But others are cynically intended to muddy the waters, spike actual realistic proposals, promote unviable pet projects, or are used to distract from the real issues.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/colourful-...

Promises to slash rates increases without specific costings aren't worth the pixels they're projected on It’s age old advice that isn’t heeded as much as it should be: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t.

Candidates often promise to freeze or slash rates increases while somehow not reducing core council services or infrastructure. Yet if you want to know how they'll achieve this, you'll usually only find vacuous statements rather than transparent costings. 🤨
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/promises-t...

Deeply unserious NIMBYs saying deeply unserious things One of the great sources of fun when dealing with NIMBYs comes from reading the deeply unserious arguments and comparisons they make while attempting to justify their objective failure of an ideology.

Watching the reactions of NIMBYs lately we can safely conclude that they're deeply unserious people, saying deeply unserious things, about a deeply unserious ideology.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/deeply-uns...

Councils embracing AI opportunities, but guardrails lag behind An exclusive investigation from Local Aotearoa can reveal that while most councils are using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to boost productivity, nearly half of councils don’t yet have fo...

While most councils are currently using AI tools in some form to boost their productivity, nearly half of councils are yet to adopt formal AI policies or guidelines to manage risks around this transformational technology.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councils-e...

The long read: NIMBYism belongs in the ash heap of history I’ll apologise in advance for what’s quite a long post, but we need to be frank.

“I’m over our local NIMBYs. They say they want to preserve Kāpiti’s character, but the character they’re wanting to preserve carries higher economic, social, and environment costs than intensification. It’s a character that ends up locking people out of housing.”
open.substack.com/pub/localaot...

Calls to shut down local government are libertarian brain rot A few days ago a prominent high-flying property developer took to LinkedIn to proclaim that we should “SHUT DOWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT”.

Calls to shut down local govt are nothing but libertarian brain rot, devoid of any understanding of the impacts of such a move, and made by those living a life of privilege whose money would shield them from the societal costs of their twisted fever dream.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/calls-to-s...