Blumsky Mark: Local Government (Rating Cap) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Blumsky Mark: Local Government (Rating Cap) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:633;Page:4810] 
MARK BLUMSKY (National) 
: 
 I have a real sense of déjà vu standing here talking about rates in Parliament because 6 years ago I was very much involved in the game of setting rates. Little did I think that 6 years later I would be standing here in Parliament talking about rates. But I can assure members now that a lot has obviously happened in those last 6 years within local government regarding rates. More and more ratepayers are highly dissatisfied and are just bloody angry with the levels of rates that are being set around the country. They want to apportion blame. Members just need to listen to talkback radio and read the newspapers to see that ratepayers want to apportion blame. Local government has lost touch with its ratepayers. 
But what is more concerning is that when I have been moving round the country talking to local government leaders I have seen there is real frustration anger and helplessness being felt by local government leaders in New Zealand. Why? Because local government leaders are losing local leadership. Compliance and paperwork being thrown at them by this Government are swamping them. There is a real concern within local government that it is losing its local leadership. To quote from a report by a very senior long-time chief executive officer in local government: “The processes associated with our business have been made more complex as a result of the 2002 legislation. I fear we will see a growth in the relative power and influence of the salaried official. As processes dominate and become more complicated the role of the official will be enhanced and as a consequence the role of the elected member will be diminished.” 
This Government is redefining the role of local government by all the compliance work and legislation that it is putting on local government. This Government is being very prescriptive and not allowing local solutions for local problems for local issues. One size does not fit all. A message is being sent to the Government by ratepayers: they want local solutions; they want local government to be elected to do what they want local government to do not what this Government wants it to do. This Government’s provisions about compliance and standards put a huge cost on local government. The Prime Minister is wrong. She had her head in the sand when she said on 7 August that the ultimate course of action for people who do not like rate rises is to vote the council out at the next election. I say to Helen Clark Prime Minister that it is not all the councils’ fault. A lot of the problems with rates are the Prime Minister’s fault and she has to front up to that. She should be under no illusion that the compliance costs arising from the audit requirement the Building Act and the legislation on gambling prostitution dog microchipping—there is a list of 67 Acts in which she has put compliance costs on local government—have impacted on rates. 
Then the Prime Minister and the Government members talk standards. They want to bring in a new water standard. Believe it or not a little council like that in Waimate which I had the pleasure of visiting had to spend $500000 to service 34 households. That is disgraceful. Leadership needs to be shown by local government. Ratepayers need and deserve answers and they need to be given new tools and new confidence that the current situation will be changed and rectified—hence National’s support for this bill to allow that opportunity to happen. 
There is talk of an inquiry. I have not seen the terms of reference. Also there is an issue to do with my confidence in how an inquiry would operate and how independent it would be. The previous history of this Government with its inquiries—as with Dr Ingram’s inquiry—does not give me confidence that the correct answer will be delivered. The ratepayers in New Zealand deserve the correct answer because their rates are too high. The Government has to stand up and take some responsibility for that.