Local Government in New Zealand; Challenges and Choices

Jean Drage and Christine Cheyne (eds) (2016) Local Government in New Zealand; Challenges and Choices. Auckland. Dunmore Publishing Ltd.Reviewed by Phil Harington2016 was the year for local body elections. Turnout was on the low side, again. There were small matters to do with rates, urban planning, claims to water, resistance to claims for water, transport, housing, mowing berms, the fairness of voting systems, rolls and representation all on the table. There is a lot at stake; tension, intrigue, drama. Baby boomers were challenging millennials on accessible house pricing. In Auckland the Unitary plan became a narrative for challenging money-grubbing development, congestion and sprawl. The face of local body politics got some youthful exuberance and left leaning winners in contrast with the traditional outcomes that keep local body stuff so deadly. One might have recognised signs that local body politics can become invigorated. This text, largely written as these trends were emerging was not planed on these observations. There may now be a case to inspire new levels of engagement and activism looming at a community level. According to the preface what we have here is designed (p. xi) "to show how local government works for citizens, how this political environment operates and what the major issues are at this time". While politics may seek out the high road, this text is the more academically inclined. Solid stuff for the student with a job in mind.The book is focused on the local government space. It is concerned with what stands in the way of progress at the local level. Chapters from Jean Drage and Alan McRobie come immediately to explain the challenges and why a person hearing lectures could well find a text helpful. They seek to guide a reader who is likely to become professionally immersed in this domain. The introductory chapters explain the history and complexity that can be relevant. Their readership may well be a student who wants to make a difference, to advise parties to local body mechanics, and seek openings or pathways in the heavily thickened terrain. They may find these introductions interesting. The question is do they provide sufficient oxygen.A lot goes on in local government yet the narrative says it is a place of inertia, relentless compromise and delay. It seldom excites. In reality local government is huge; bigger, more critical often more clearly the place of dark room deals and tidy arrangements. Sadly it is way less participatory than central government and get even less scrutiny. In many ways the local is where the impact of the economy manifests its consequences in our lives. We have the idea that we can fight the economy in a general election but at the local level we are bereft of any effort that could bring some semblance of equity and agency in our lives. Expressing yourself in parks and playgrounds, farmers markets and galleries, public transport and shared spaces all comes down to how well we do local decision making. Too much of it however has already been determined by the demands for malls and roads, for building permits and officialdom, a random fee and copious compliance. We struggle to pretend all is not lost. This book is right to tell us where and how so much of the process today is what it is but it somehow does not imagine the way the local, to become a place for participation has to be seen as a site of malleability and de-mystification. There have been revolts and fightback in this space and of course gormless outcomes that show no courage, no imagination, many concessions to dross and concrete. I would be keen to see more about how the canvass that that is governance at a local level can be touched? The authors are well chosen to comment on the setting. They explain how central government with some malevolence can drop yet roles or responsibilities onto local government but fail to enable any expansion in resources or funds to do the job. Councils must deal with the rotten hand they are dealt. …