Calder Cam: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Calder Cam: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:15606] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 I am amazed at the alarmism extremism and scaremongering that we have heard in the House today. The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill is a simple bill to improve transparency accountability and financial management. It is a bill on behalf of ratepayers the length and breadth of this country. 
Its provisions are intended to operate on two levels. First at a strategic level the bill aims to change the way that local authorities set their direction and the way this direction can be influenced and assessed by the community. It is directed at communities having more knowledge of what is going on. How does the bill aim to achieve this? It reinforces the need for local authorities to focus on core services. We have already heard that the Wellington City Council approves of this. It is a guideline; it is not didactic. Effectively local councils can focus on core services and they will learn what those core services are from their communities. 
The bill talks about introducing a pre-election report. Why does it do this? It is to encourage an informed election debate. People can elect the officials who will represent them on the basis of being informed and knowing well what each person stands for how they perform and how the council has performed in the preceding 3 years. 
The bill introduces a financial strategy to the long-term plan in order to help local authorities and their communities debate and resolve the key financial and service delivery trade-offs that local authorities must make. It integrates community outcomes and long-term planning processes to encourage better prioritisation of community aspirations. Once again it is all to do with what the community wants. 
The legislation focuses community outcomes on the role that a local authority intends to play in its district or region. Of course it improves the financial and non-financial information in long-term plans by making it more accessible more useful and more comprehensible to most of us. Most of us do not have an accounting degree; we want to make this information easy to understand. 
At an operational level the bill aims to simplify decision-making processes. We want to do this because we heard from many councils that they were required to consult at so many steps that they were getting consultation fatigue. The bill removes unnecessary auditing by taking a number of operational policies out of the long-term plan. It removes unnecessary consultation as we have said and levels the playing field to better enable the private sector to deliver local authority services where that is required by the local authority. 
People have had a few concerns about consultation. I will address some of these concerns. The Local Government Act 2002 contains many provisions to ensure and enable community engagement and consultation in local authority decision-making. This bill proposes amendments to remove some of the more prescriptive ones and we have heard from the other side of the House that that proposal has had a certain amount of acceptance from the Opposition. I am pleased to hear that. 
The bill proposes to remove some of the more prescriptive consultation requirements but we acknowledge and underline the fact that consultation is still required. Where is this consultation required? Section 78 of the Local Government Act 2002 requires a local authority to give consideration to the views of interested or affected parties when making a decision. Section 97 requires that any decision that would significantly alter the level of service provided for a significant activity or that would transfer ownership or control of a strategic asset be included in the long-term council community plan which itself requires an involved community consultation. So we can put that concern to one side. 
Core services are another area that we have had a lot of debate about. Clause 5 of the bill introduces a list of core services. It says that local authorities must have a particular regard to the contribution of these services to their communities. Many submitters noted that the list is unduly rigid or restrictive and pointed out that what is considered a core service in one area is not considered a core service in another. We understand that. Clause 5 does not prevent a local authority from providing services not listed if it deems them a priority for its local community. The ability of the local authority to decide which services to provide for the community is preserved. The clause may be seen as providing a reference point and focus for community debate. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you very much.