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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This submission on the Local Government (Systems Improvements) Amendment Bill (the Bill) is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative). Read more
New Zealand ratepayers are being mugged by reality. After a 12 percent rates increase last year, dozens of councils are imposing another round of double-digit hikes. Read more
Minister Chris Bishop delivered an unprecedented message to local government leaders last month. At the LGNZ conference, he declared that New Zealanders question councils’ “licence to lead.” But his speech went further than typical government criticism of local authorities. Read more
Picture this: a part-time councillor rushes home from their day job, grabs dinner, then sits down to wade through 600 pages of technical reports two days before a crucial council meeting. Sound familiar? Read more
Wellington (Thursday, 12 June 2025) - Picture this: a part-time councillor rushes home from their day job, grabs dinner, then sits down to wade through 600 pages of technical reports two days before a crucial council meeting. Sound familiar? Read more
Picture this scenario: It is a Friday afternoon. A councillor receives a 600-page agenda for Tuesday's meeting. Read more
When a councillor in New Zealand’s Carterton District was elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility, she could not have expected to be barred from participating in budget deliberations. Yet that is exactly what happened when council bureaucrats deemed her campaign promises a “conflict of interest” that disqualified her from key financial decisions. Read more
It wasn’t that long ago that New Zealand’s housing market made international news because of its insanity. In 2016, The Guardian tagged Auckland as the “hottest property market in the world” – and part of a housing crisis. Read more
Nick Clark talks about his latest report urging for local government reform. Listen below. Read more
New Zealand's local government is facing a crisis of democracy, but international examples show a way forward. This is the key message from my report, Making Local Government Work, released by the New Zealand Initiative this week. Read more