Paula Thompson BOP Regional Councillor www.envbop.govt.nz

The Minister of Local Government, Rodney Hide has flagged that he intends to carry out a comprehensive review of the local government system.

Basically, the purpose is to 'consider the structure, functions and funding of local government”. He has concerns local government faces significant historical, current and future issues and he isn't convinced the current structure and funding can cope now and going forward. All eyes are on the new Auckland Super City and how that all shakes down and whether it will produce the cost efficiencies and integrated powerhouse for Auckland economic development as anticipated. My view – it will be a force to be reckoned with.

Local Government reform is not new. This will be the fourth go at it in the last 20 years. In 1989, we went from over 700 units of local government to 89. Then in 2002, central government gave it a power of general competence and made it develop long-term plans so the community and council could plan for wants and needs and how it was to be paid for. Then the Auckland Super City reform and now this one.
Mr Hide is proposing to have some options developed for consultation in 2012 with it all being a ‘wrap' in 2012. Yes – the basic premise is good: Are communities being served as well as they might be by the current number and forms of local government? Bearing in mind we have two sorts – 66 city and district councils and 13 regional local government: Does having these council structures, all of different population sizes, geographical spread, funding capacity, challenge profiles and debt structures make good sense? Are communities receiving cost-efficient service provision and effective regulatory regimes?

I believe local government has an essential part to play in the well-being of New Zealand and New Zealanders going forward, but times continue to change, communities of interest change, expand and morph. There are huge challenges facing local communities resulting from the global financial crisis and natural disasters and we can't afford to not keep up and ahead of the game. Local government needs to be strong, capable, innovative and responsive. Some councils will struggle to remain sustainable.

Personally I applaud the review. Here in the Bay of Plenty we have six territorial and one regional council and there has been some innovative collaborative work effort. For example, the strategic roading partnership, BOP Shared Services-Smart Growth. But, now is not a time to rest on laurels. There is much more that can be done across the BOP, particularly in economic growth, sustainable employment and dealing with fiscal realities. This is all about being smarter and bolder in how we do things.

One of the yardsticks that I would like to see change measured against is communities interest in local government. Perhaps the appalling voter turnout, about 40 per cent, might improve to reflect a far better relationship than exists now between the governance and the governed. Some might say that people don't vote because they are happy with what they have – I think the reverse...that generally local government can do better and aspire to have a mutually respectful relationship with the communities it serves.