Williamson Maurice: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williamson Maurice: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 29 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6955. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Local Government: I move  
That the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. This bill marks the first phase of the Government’s Better Local Government reform programme. It is a significant bill that aims to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of local government in New Zealand. Local government is of great significance to New Zealand communities and to the New Zealand economy. Local government makes up 4 percent of GDP spends $7.8 billion per year of public money and manages $120 billion of assets. Councils provide critical services to households businesses and communities right across New Zealand. New Zealand communities are affected by the decisions and the actions of their council on a daily basis and are certainly affected when they receive their rates bills. This is why local government reform is so vital. The Better Local Government programme will mean that local government is better positioned to create the environment for local businesses and industry to emerge and grow and for communities to flourish. This bill is a vital first step to allow for this. 
The bill refocuses the purpose of local government. Having a clear and defined purpose statement will focus councils on the things that only they can do. It will encourage councils to take a fresh look at the services and infrastructure that their communities want and are willing to pay for. The bill introduces financial prudence benchmarks to be set by regulations. The purpose of these regulations is twofold. They will encourage councils to exercise greater financial discipline. They will also provide a system that the average ratepayer can understand to assess the financial prudence of their council or to compare their council’s performance against other councils. The amendments of the Local Government and Environment Committee to require the inclusion of the benchmarks in councils’ annual reports will further enhance the transparency of councils’ financial management. 
The bill strengthens local authority governance tools. There will be a simpler more responsive mechanism than is currently available for central government to assist struggling local authorities and intervene before situations become critical. The leadership roles of mayors will be strengthened. Mayors will be given governance powers that will match the level of public responsibility they have for council’s decisions and that will support clear strong leadership by mayors. Elected councils will have an additional tool to control council costs through being able to clearly set policies on staff numbers and remuneration. Ratepayers will have better information on council labour costs as councils will be required to report annually on numbers of staff employed by salary bands. 
The bill streamlines the procedures for the reorganisation of local government arrangements. Currently the reorganisation process is ineffective. There have been improvements to this process made since the bill was reported back from the select committee. The Local Government Commission must now assess whether a proposal has demonstrated community support in each affected territorial authority area. The time frame for delivering a petition calling for a poll has been extended from 40 to 60 working days and a petition calling for a poll now needs to collect the signatures of only 10 percent of electors in any affected territorial authority area. The bill also allows for large urban areas to utilise the two-tier local board model if the community decides that this is the best option to organise its local governance arrangements. 
The Opposition members will no doubt attempt to portray this bill as an attack on councils and claim that this bill cuts across local democracy. I completely reject this view. I encourage those members to actually go out and listen to the people in their communities because if those members did go out and listen to the people in their communities they would hear how New Zealanders especially those on fixed and low incomes are tired of ever-increasing rates bills. Over the last decade rates have increased on average by 7 percent per annum. Over this period local government debt has quadrupled from $2 billion to $8 billion. These trends have to stop. They simply have to stop. 
If those Opposition members did go out and listen to their communities they would hear ratepayers saying that they do not want to be put in the situation that the Kaipara District Council ratepayers are currently in where a council with a population of 18000 people runs up debt of $80 million and the community is left with a crushing rates increase as a result. And if those members did go out and listen to their communities they would be told that it should be communities that decide how they want their local governance arrangements to be structured and if communities want to change they should be allowed to change. Since 1989 no local government reorganisation has taken place under the existing rules. The barriers for communities to effect change are just simply too high. 
This bill addresses the concerns of ratepayers. It is a significant and important bill for New Zealand communities for businesses and industry and for individual households. I believe that these changes will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local government and help the local government sector to play its part in growing the New Zealand economy. I commend this bill to the House.