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Speaker 1: The wrecking bulls coming to a council and their your

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Speaker 1: regional councils are going there to be replaced by the

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Speaker 1: Combined Territories Board. Ctb's mayors will run them. These boards

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Speaker 1: will produce a regional organization plan. Chris Bishops in charge

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Speaker 1: of it all. Good morning, Good morning. The detail at

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Speaker 1: council level of what you announced yesterday, how much were

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Speaker 1: they aware of previously?

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Speaker 2: They're aware that we were looking at structural reform and

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Speaker 2: looking at changes in light of resource management.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it was a big call for us because resource.

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Speaker 2: Management is massive, right, It's going to strip out layers

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Speaker 2: and layers of duplication, standardized processes, and strip costs out

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Speaker 2: of the system. So we sort of had a decision

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Speaker 2: to make do we just kind of do that and

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Speaker 2: go job done, or do we go actually, you know what,

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Speaker 2: if we're going to do all this stuff anyway, do

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Speaker 2: we actually do the full monty and say, you know what,

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Speaker 2: let's deal with local government at the same time and.

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Speaker 3: In the end, you know, go big or go home. Right,

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Speaker 3: So there we decided to do the whole lot.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so interesting area because no one cares do they.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we saw in the election, no one turns

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Speaker 1: up to vote, no gives the monkeys, and yet the

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Speaker 1: reform is massive. So how do you explain that?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think no one cares, partly because they can't

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Speaker 2: understand it. Right, So you vote for your regional counselor,

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Speaker 2: then they elect a chair. I mean, how many people

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Speaker 2: out there listening could actually name their regional council chair?

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Speaker 3: Sure who don't live an Auckland.

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Speaker 2: I don't think anyone, not that many people be evil

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Speaker 2: name a regional counselor, and.

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Speaker 3: Then of course you've got all the confusion. Right.

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Speaker 2: So in Wellington where I'm from, for example, the regional

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Speaker 2: council runs the buses, but the Wellington City Council basically

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Speaker 2: works out where you can actually put a bus stop,

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Speaker 2: for example, and they do all the road closures and

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Speaker 2: things like that. So there's enormous levels of complexity and

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Speaker 2: complication that people just don't understand, and people say, well,

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Speaker 2: why am I voting for all these people don't understand

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Speaker 2: who most of them are. I don't know who they are,

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Speaker 2: and so there's enormous duplication in the system. So I

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Speaker 2: think that partly explains why voter turn out rates are

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Speaker 2: so low.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So what about the regionality an Auckland will have

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Speaker 1: dealt with us, I guess more than the rest of

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Speaker 1: the country. Once you get a big area, there are

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Speaker 1: specific stories within the area that may not get dealt

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Speaker 1: to because you're suddenly in a big area. Is that

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Speaker 1: fair or not?

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Speaker 3: I think there's a legitimate argument for that.

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Speaker 2: In Auckland solves that problem or attempted to solve it

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Speaker 2: through the local boards and that that kind of representation

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Speaker 2: at a at a local level relevant to people people's interests.

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Speaker 2: So local parks and things like that. You know that

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Speaker 2: that's important. You know that there is it is important

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Speaker 2: that people have an outlet the things they're frustrated about,

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Speaker 2: you know, at a very local level. You know, things

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Speaker 2: that are things can be dealt with at a at

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Speaker 2: a minor way, so to speak. But you know those

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Speaker 2: big issues around you know, how are we managing the

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Speaker 2: catchments and the rivers in our particular area, how we

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Speaker 2: doing public transport, those big issues around land use planning

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Speaker 2: and resource management is going to introduce spatial planting so

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Speaker 2: we can look out over the next thirty fifty years

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Speaker 2: and look at our corridors that we want to protect

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Speaker 2: for future road and rail and the areas we don't

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Speaker 2: want to build on, for example, those kind of big things.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't make sense to have two different types of

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Speaker 2: local government structures doing that stuff. And so we're giving

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Speaker 2: regions in areas an opportunity to have a good look

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Speaker 2: at that.

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Speaker 1: Do you potentially run into the same problem you've run

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Speaker 1: into some places with water. So you're asking these people

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Speaker 1: to come up with a plan within a couple of years.

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Speaker 1: What are their plans? No good, you're going to stym in.

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Speaker 3: We're going to set the tram lines for the plan.

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Speaker 2: So it has to be sustainable and affordable, and it

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Speaker 2: has to have a relevant degree of local control. It

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Speaker 2: has to enable better services and more affordable services for

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Speaker 2: rate payers. So we're going to set the criteria and

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Speaker 2: we'll be the ones doing the assessing of what regions

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Speaker 2: come up with.

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Speaker 1: Why don't you just tell them and save us all

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 2: Well, we looked at that, To be honest, that's a

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Speaker 2: really good argument. We did have a look at that.

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Speaker 2: The issue with that is then you are into extremely

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Speaker 2: top down here is what is going to happen.

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Speaker 3: You don't get a say you.

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Speaker 1: What's wrong with that? I mean half the people there's

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Speaker 1: half the people there are dumpty doo. So, I mean

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Speaker 1: they don't have a clue what's going on, and that's

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Speaker 1: why we're in the state we're in.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a legitimate argument for that, and we decided

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Speaker 2: that a bit like the Three Waters. We'll say to people, listen,

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Speaker 2: you come up with the model. You've got clear criteria

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Speaker 2: to meet, and if you don't do it, we'll do

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Speaker 2: it for you. But at least in the interim you

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Speaker 2: can come up with it and we'll give you a

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Speaker 2: y RNA.

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Speaker 1: Does it stick post your government? Do you think?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: Lock, that's over to the Labor Party obviously, But I

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Speaker 2: would say publicly, there's not that many defenders of the

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Speaker 2: status quo, right, I mean, it's a bit like nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty nine. I mean, last time we did local government

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Speaker 2: reform was eighty nine, and people as a massive hue

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Speaker 2: and cry, people with bananas about it for quite a

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Speaker 2: long time, and then you know, have we ever repealed

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Speaker 2: them and gone backwards? No? So I just think most

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Speaker 2: New Zealanders listening, most fair minded people know we don't

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Speaker 2: have the scale required to really get things done locally.

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Speaker 2: They know there's too much duplication. They know that local

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Speaker 2: government's lost its social license. So I think we've just

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Speaker 2: got to get on with it, frankly, and I'm looking.

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Speaker 1: Forward having that abut about it, all right, appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: Chris Buship.

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Speaker 1: By the way, if you missed the Deloitte report yesterday

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Speaker 1: on Wellington City Council, just to remind you just how

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Speaker 1: hopeless this whole thing is. They found they've just got

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Speaker 1: the extra three hundred and thirty people they don't need

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Speaker 1: and they could save seventy nine million bucks.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mike Asking Breakfast, Listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio