Government’s Christmas Info Dump Reveals Rates Capping Policy Failed Quality Checks And Targets Vulnerable – Alliance Party

The Alliance Party says the Government’s proposed rates capping policy is an “exercise in intergenerational theft,” following the release of official advice that reveals the policy failed its own quality checks and explicitly targets services for the elderly and disabled.

Alliance Party Local Government spokesperson Ethan Gullery says the advice, which was released quietly on 22 December in response to an Official Information Act request, confirms the Minister of Local Government knew the policy was flawed but proceeded anyway.

“Releasing major policy documents three days before Christmas is the oldest trick in the book,” says Gullery.

The documents reveal that the Department of Internal Affairs’ own Quality Assurance panel gave the rates capping policy a rating of “Does Not Meet Quality Assurance Criteria.”

Gullery says the Government’s own experts failed this policy because there was a basic mismatch between the Minister’s political claims that councils are ‘wasteful’ and the hard evidence that councils are facing unavoidable infrastructure costs.

The Alliance Party says the documents expose a financial trap that will cost ratepayers more in the long run.

Treasury advice contained in the release explicitly warns that capping revenue will damage council credit ratings, driving up interest rates on council debt.

“This policy effectively turns our local councils into sub-prime borrowers,” says Gullery.

“Ratepayers will end up paying more just to service higher interest payments to the banks. It is fiscal incompetence.”

Most concerning is the admission within the advice that councils, unable to raise necessary revenue, will be forced to cut “less visible services” to survive.

The briefing specifically identifies elderly assistance and disability support as likely targets for cuts.

“The Government is engineering a crisis that will force councils to slash support for vulnerable citizens and sell off public assets in a fire sale just to keep the lights on,” says Gullery.

The Regulatory Impact Statement also admits that current rate rises are not due to waste, but are the bill coming due for decades of under-investment.

“The Minister knows this policy failed its quality check. He knows it risks spiking interest costs. And he knows that ‘keeping rates low’ is exactly what caused our infrastructure crisis in the first place,” Gullery says.

Gullery says by delaying the full implementation of the cap until 2029, the Government is simply announcing a headline today while scheduling the pain for future generations.