1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,400
Speaker 1: My fun fact of the week, not that it's actually

2
00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:04,400
Speaker 1: that much fun, and not that it's even new, given

3
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: it's been around. If you could be bothered looking, is

4
00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,479
Speaker 1: you ready? Is in hawks Bay? There are fifty six

5
00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,480
Speaker 1: fifty six mayor's chairs and councilors fifty six spread across

6
00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: five councils. And Hawks Bay not Mexico City or London

7
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,320
Speaker 1: or New York, Hawks Bay, the low regional New Zealand.

8
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 1: Now this is contained in an excellent piece, well worth

9
00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:24,119
Speaker 1: reading over the long weekend, to be found on the

10
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 1: newsroom site. Broadly, it looks into amalgamation of councils. Now.

11
00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,600
Speaker 1: The good news is amalgamation is coming. In my view,

12
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,600
Speaker 1: it cannot come fast enough. This small land is festooned

13
00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,919
Speaker 1: with councils and boards and groups who do little other

14
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,520
Speaker 1: than add to inflation with cost plus accounting. The trick

15
00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,040
Speaker 1: and part of it is the government's Water Done Well program.

16
00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,360
Speaker 1: Once they spin all that out, those duties out to

17
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,559
Speaker 1: new entities, you won't need as many councils, and councils

18
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,120
Speaker 1: won't have the rate payer base to be able to

19
00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:51,680
Speaker 1: afford stuff anyway. But here is where this thing might

20
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,880
Speaker 1: go wrong. One fivectoms too many still argue they're more

21
00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,920
Speaker 1: important than they actually are. Two. The government says they

22
00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,840
Speaker 1: won't enforce this change, they will act on the communities.

23
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:06,679
Speaker 1: Will big, big mistake. Upside, There is talk of as

24
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,039
Speaker 1: few as thirteen unitary authorities. That would mean eleven regional

25
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,040
Speaker 1: councils for example, gone good, quick as you like, get

26
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 1: on with it. We're grossly over counseled in this country

27
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 1: sixty seven sixty seven. Currently we've got authorities for handfuls

28
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,080
Speaker 1: of thousands of people. That's absurd. And that's before you

29
00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,040
Speaker 1: get to the quality or lack of it. The savings,

30
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,200
Speaker 1: by the way, huge five billion dollars savings on the

31
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,200
Speaker 1: RIMA side alone. But by the time you read this

32
00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: article you are left uplifted. This is the reason I've

33
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,120
Speaker 1: raised this. You are left uplifted by the possibility that

34
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,200
Speaker 1: one of you more boring topics, local body representation might

35
00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,479
Speaker 1: just be heading somewhere good. And my hope is if

36
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,199
Speaker 1: it does head somewhere good, we may at last start

37
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,400
Speaker 1: to pay attention to it, be invested in it, and

38
00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: it becomes a virtuous circle of success and productivity and positivity.

39
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 1: And if that doesn't fizz you up for a good easter,

40
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,559
Speaker 1: nothing does. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen

41
00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,200
Speaker 1: live to news talks from six am weekdays, or follow

42
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio