The Prime Minister’s speech at the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference this afternoon is arguably ‘the best speech on local government in a generation’ says the Taxpayers’ Union.

Speaking from the conference, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Christopher Luxon delivered a speech today that is on the side of the ratepayers struggling with the costs being imposed on them by an out of control local government sector.

“Sometimes hearing the truth hurts, and there is no doubt Mr Luxon dropped some truth bombs. But demanding financial prudence, accountability and transparency from local government rather than reaching straight for the chequebook is hardly anything radical.

“The introduction of the four wellbeing provisions into the Local Government Act is a failed experiment that gave councils unbridled discretion on how to spend ratepayers money. The results were disastrous. Scrapping these provisions is the right decision.

“Performance benchmarks will go a long way to helping ratepayers see if they are getting a fair deal. In the past the Taxpayers’ Union has been forced to pick up the slack with our annual Ratepayers’ Report but this work is limited by councils’ cooperation.

“Limiting expenditure on ‘nice-to-haves’ is exactly what is needed to force councils into investing in core infrastructure and services rather than costly vanity projects.

“We have long campaigned for councils to have the same rights to information from their councils as company directors have from companies. There is a worrying culture of secrecy and gatekeeping by unelected council bureaucrats who refuse to give elected decision makers the information they need – or wait until the eleventh hour to do so.

“Today’s speech hit all the right notes. If the Government can hold true to their word, stories of double-digit rate hikes and families being forced to sell their homes will soon become a thing of the past.”

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