The fundamental problem of engagement in local democracy comes down to the grim reality that most of the democracy at a local level is a facade.
The example of Auckland should put off any other local Government from ever considering another merger. The Mayor and Councillors have a tiny amount of power while faceless bureaucrats and vested interests make the real decisions behind the scenes.
The ludicrously named Council-Controlled Organisations where the real power is have barely any oversight and even less teeth.
Any new progressive team coming in must demand more actual power for our representatives so those participating in the voting can feel that their vote isn’t a waste of time.
Because as it is now, it’s wasted.
Spot on Martyn,
“Nactional promised us less government” when they were slinging off at Helen Clark government when they called it “a nanny state” remember??
Well well now Nactional have intruded into every corner of our local governments everywhere all planned out of SS Joyce’s MBIE planned GGC partnership modelling of privatisation of all our regional assets, roads, and next it will be water and electricity has already gone private mostly and of course our Ports and airports are being targeted now so this is Nactional’s insidious plan top privatise every thing we are today. They now have their business mates involved tentacles into every partnership of assets now the crooked bastards.
“The example of Auckland should put off any other local Government from ever considering another merger.
The Mayor and Councillors have a tiny amount of power while faceless bureaucrats and vested interests make the real decisions behind the scenes.”
See this is being done in Gisborne now.
All our local roads are now maintained by private overseas companies now and the roads are falling apart because the maintenance is only being done once every three month’s and the work is not being done to bring the standards up to how they were before the privateers took the contract over last year. All this below promised us is untrue and lies as the maintenance is virtually absent now leaving our roads at the threat of lots of over weight trucks roaming on our light rural roads and now wrecking them entirely it is a bloody shambles now.
Here’s the Nactional Government plan.
Tairāwhiti Roads Collaboration between Gisborne District Council
and NZ Transport Agency
2015-07
December 2015.
Executive Summary
Tairāwhiti Roads is a unique new collaboration that manages the roading assets of the NZ Transport Agency and Gisborne District Council (GDC) under one shared business unit – bringing together the asset management and decision making for the region’s roads in close proximity to the assets, customers and suppliers.
This step-change promises to deliver more effective and efficient maintenance, operations and renewal programmes for the region’s state highways and local roads with a true one-network approach.
The networks are being managed under the Network Outcomes Contract (NOC)
framework in two geographic contract areas, each comprising both state highways and local roads and including the professional services function. This will enable the partners to get the best out of the resources, people and roading assets that span one of New Zealand’s most remote and challenging networks.
The benefits from Tairāwhiti Roads go beyond financial savings, with the NZ Transport Agency gaining a greater presence in the region (as previously no staff resided in Gisborne) and GDC gaining exposure to the wider expertise of the NZ Transport Agency in aspects such as procurement, safety, and asset management.
Our customers will benefit from the combined ‘one-stop shop’ interface for local roads
and state highways. This will be complemented by the shared Journey Manager approach that will consolidate the thinking, coordination and communications to deliver one-network outcomes.
I hate having to agree with John Roughan, but he delivers some bits of info that are worth noting:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11711152
“The council meets as committees of all, or nearly all, members all day, just about every day. The poor members are fed fat agendas full of long reports of nebulous, mind-numbing vacuity.
Most of their evenings must be taken up reading it all and at the meetings they wade through it all, having a desultory debate on a minor point and knowing all along there is not much to decide. Christine Fletcher has complained publicly about how little time the interminable meetings leave for her to meet constituents and attend to people’s real concerns.
The mayor and council are a democratic facade, maintained for appearances while professional staff make all the real decisions.”
This is what I learned through following the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan hearings, on the submissions and so forth, and through following how Council dealt with the recommendations made by that supposedly “independent” government appointed “hearing panel”.
I bet that few of the Councillors bothered reading much in the way of submissions and the thousands of reports filed by Council planners, by vested interest holding business submitter representatives and so on. I bet that few read the endless reports by their own CEO commissioned planning and advisory staff that were involved in the hearings.
When watching some video footage on the Governing Body of Council (all Councillors sitting there and voting) going over the recommendations put before them, and how few real in depth and detailed questions were asked, I realised, they voted for a Plan that they do in their majority have no real grasp of.
The Mayor himself, Len the Man, he is so full of “shit” also, I must say, I cannot wait to see the back of him. His grand talking goes on my nerves.
I challenge anyone voting in the local body elections here, have you read the Auckland Plan, have you read the now decided on Unitary Plan, have you read the Long Term Plan and other Plans they put out and adopted?
If you have not, how do you know what is planned by whom, who stands for what and who is actually going to have much knowledge, insight and competence to make INFORMED decisions on all this stuff put before them?
So INDEED, local body “democracy” in Auckland, and probably elsewhere too, is a total FARCE, certainly in Auckland, where the CCOs, their bosses and also the not well known “Committee for Auckland” make the plans and set the direction to where we are going.
Business and the bosses of CCOs, who are run like businesses also, and the top guns of the city are in charge, the Mayor is like a marionette to do the dancing, and the liaising with central government, Councillors are there to nod and vote for the new “visions” and agendas, and allowed to make petty objections and suggestions, little more.
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/about/governance/meet-the-team
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/about/strategy
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/membership/members
The fundamental problem of engagement in National democracy comes down to the grim reality that most of the democracy at a National level is a facade.
Sadly, exactly what you have said is true.
It is quite astounding that when the Auckland Council was created there has been so little media analysis in regard to the fact that councilors and elections are simply a pretense to some form of local democracy. The real deal takes place despite the residents of this city.
Auckland Council was set up to be run by businessmen for business, ostensibly to sell of the vast collection of assets to businessmen.Thus far little has been achieved on that front, a National aligned council is all that is needed from the Mayor down. Phil Goff chills my blood to think he will not sell certain assets but leaves other up in the air, I assume for sale. And as for every other mayoral candidate like Crone, Thomas, Palino and Ralston, assets sells would be full steam ahead.
Supercity reducing democracy – as intended by the National government and ACT.
Yes. Councils rob us, lie to us, don’t even bother to comply with legal requirements, and spend OUR money producing propaganda that declares communities are ‘extremely satisfied’ with their continuously abysmal performance.
For many years Orwellian, local government is now progressing to the meltdown phase, with sewage leaks, failing water systems, collapsing infrastructure and unsustainable levels of debt, while the pigs with their snouts in the public feeding trough continue to get fatter and fatter. .
Nothing will be done about any of it because local government now has a life of its own and there is no accountability anywhere, nor any means of holding anyone to account. Council officers and CEOs will continue to be rewarded for gross incompetence, and councilors will continue to serve their own interests until they collectively manage to completely cripple the communities they supposedly serve.
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