1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,200
Speaker 1: So Cabinet has agreed to pass law to force counsels

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,520
Speaker 1: to go back to focusing on their actual jobs. The

3
00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,320
Speaker 1: law changes will include making councils publicly report in very

4
00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,760
Speaker 1: simple terms what they're spending money on from mid next year.

5
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,320
Speaker 1: Local Government New Zealand Vice President Campbell barriers.

6
00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 2: With us more than Campbell, good morning.

7
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:18,160
Speaker 1: You won't have a problem with this, will you.

8
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,200
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of potential good things that

9
00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,280
Speaker 2: can come from benchmarking, seeing wherever councils sit alongside yourself.

10
00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily a bad thing. I think we're just

11
00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 2: going to make sure that we're measuring the right things

12
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,800
Speaker 2: and that we are comparing apples with apples when we

13
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,800
Speaker 2: do this exercise as well. But I think transparency for

14
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,520
Speaker 2: rate payers are focus on bringing rates down as something

15
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:41,519
Speaker 2: that all councils are pretty keen on.

16
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,360
Speaker 1: And what about taking away the full wellbeing pillars at

17
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:45,960
Speaker 1: the labor government put in You're happy to see the

18
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:46,920
Speaker 1: back of them.

19
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,080
Speaker 2: Oh, look, this has come and gone from my time

20
00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:54,600
Speaker 2: in local government of the last fourteen years two or

21
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,680
Speaker 2: three times now, so I would say it's probably not

22
00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,720
Speaker 2: actually going to make a huge difference. The purpose of

23
00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,520
Speaker 2: the Life Government Act. I think exercises like benchmarking, looking

24
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 2: at how we can be more transparent with rate payers

25
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,039
Speaker 2: around where we actually are investing in what we're doing,

26
00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,679
Speaker 2: so ultimately they can hold us accountable, not the government.

27
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,560
Speaker 2: I think rate payers are the ones who should be

28
00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,920
Speaker 2: holding us accountable is the most important thing. So I

29
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,000
Speaker 2: think that's something that councils will be open to and

30
00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:19,400
Speaker 2: seeing how we can do things better.

31
00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,640
Speaker 1: I thought that the well Being pillars were part of

32
00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:23,920
Speaker 1: the reason and part of the problem with the well

33
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,160
Speaker 1: Being pillars were that they were forcing councils to start

34
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,680
Speaker 1: considering all these other things like cultural wellbeing and social

35
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,320
Speaker 1: wellbeing and economic well being and so on, and they

36
00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 1: were being used to justify a lot of the stuff

37
00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,640
Speaker 1: that was kind of outside the scope of traditional council work.

38
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:39,560
Speaker 1: If we take them away, does it not force the

39
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 1: councils to actually focus a little bit more carefully on

40
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:43,280
Speaker 1: the original nuts and bolts.

41
00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 2: Well, I mean you just have to look at it back,

42
00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,400
Speaker 2: you know. The John Key government removed the full well

43
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 2: Beings from the Local Government Act. I actually don't think

44
00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,360
Speaker 2: it made a real difference in regards to how councils operated.

45
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,960
Speaker 2: That the Labor government brought them back and I just

46
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,840
Speaker 2: don't think that actually may a real difference. So for me,

47
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,960
Speaker 2: I think exercises like the benchmarking, looking at how we

48
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,680
Speaker 2: can be more transparent makes more sense and it's actually

49
00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,120
Speaker 2: going to make a tangible difference on the ground. The

50
00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,079
Speaker 2: reality is, regardless of the four well beings and are

51
00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 2: in there, that's always going to come into play in

52
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,959
Speaker 2: some form, even when it comes to our delivery of

53
00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,919
Speaker 2: our basic infrastructure for councils.

54
00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it sounds like you guys are still bristling

55
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: a little bit of the fact the government's getting involved here.

56
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, look at the government's made their expectations pretty clear

57
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,959
Speaker 2: at the Local Government conference of where they were hitting.

58
00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,720
Speaker 2: We're actually supportive of benchmarking if it's done well. If

59
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:39,760
Speaker 2: it's not done well, then there's a real problem there.

60
00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 2: For example, if you're comparing get per head of population

61
00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,680
Speaker 2: or rates increases in a growth council like Hamilton versus

62
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,639
Speaker 2: Central Books day, you are comparing the apples and oranges.

63
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 2: So you know, there is some work that needs to

64
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:52,880
Speaker 2: be done to make sure it is something that is

65
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,000
Speaker 2: actually effective and will make tangible differences on the ground.

66
00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,600
Speaker 1: Campbell, Thanks very much, Campbell, Barry, local Government, New Zealand President.

67
00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,080
Speaker 1: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

68
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,240
Speaker 1: News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or follow

69
00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,840
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio