MEDIA RELEASE

Government Must Rethink Local Government Reform

"The key lesson to take from the low turnout in the local government elections is not that voters are apathetic but that democratic processes and accountability at the local government level are weak", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.

"The business sector is particularly disenfranchised even though it pays around 50 percent of council rates. It is grossly discriminated against by differential rating in many of the main centres and in some rural districts.

"The Controller and Auditor-General has reported a widespread perception, which the business community shares, that the consultation process of councils on their annual plans is a sham.

"In these circumstances the last thing the government should be doing is conferring even wider roles and powers on local government", Mr Kerr said.

"To the contrary, councils should be refocused on their core public good roles. They should not be involved in the provision of private goods and services. If councils were less overstretched they would perform their core roles better and voters would be more able to monitor and engage with them.

"To date there has been minimal consultation by the government with the business community about its plans to give local government more expansive powers. Business organisations are seeking close involvement with the next stages of the review of the Local Government Act, and the election turnout highlights the need for the government to rethink its directions", Mr Kerr concluded.

For further information:

Mr Roger Kerr
Executive Director
New Zealand Business Roundtable
Tel: (04) 499-0790

15 October 2001

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>