THE WAGGLING TAIL

The self-appointed Better Local Government working party (BLG) proposes collapsing the three district councils and one regional council in Northland into two unitary authorities.  Last week it ran a full page ad in the local papers that included a list of supporters for its proposal.  Who and what is not on that list is more revealing and interesting than who is.  To illustrate:

IWI:  Te Taitokerau Iwi Leaders Forum is an informal collective of individual Iwi Chairs with no legal standing or representative capacity in its own right.  I don’t know why it’s on the list, especially when, of the ten Iwi whose Chairs attend it from time to time, only four are separately listed. 

HAPŪ:  Next on the support list are two Ngāpuhi hapū.  But there are more than 200 hapu in Taitokerau who are not on the list.

COUNCIL COMMITTEES:  Whangarei District Council has six wards and governs through Council and 12 committees.  Kaipara District Council has six wards but governs through four commissioners.  Far North District Council has three wards and governs through Council and three community boards.  The Northland Regional Council has three constituencies and governs through Council and three committees.  Of the four councils and their 21 committees, only one council and two committees are listed. 

BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS:  Four of eight business assocations in the Far North are listed, and none from Whangarei or Kaipara.

COUNCIL-OWNED COMPANIES:  There are only two in the entire region. Far North Holdings Ltd is listed.  Whangarei Waste Ltd  is not.

RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATIONS:  Three of 12 ratepayers associations in the Far North are listed.  Of Whangarei’s 13 and Kaipara’s two ratepayers associations, none are listed.

PRIMARY HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERS:  One primary health service provider in Kaikohe is listed.  But according to the websites of Manaia PHO and Taitokerau PHO there are more than 40 such providers in the entire region, so at least 39 are not listed.

REGIONAL SPORTING BODIES:  One regional sporting body is listed.  But according to the ASB’s sponsorship website, there are more than 35 regional sporting bodies in Taitokerau, so at least 34 are not listed.

PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS:    One of eight regional councillors, one of three mayors, one of three deputy mayors, one of a number of former mayors and one farming body director from Northland are listed, along with one prominent individual from Auckland.

BUSINESSMEN:  Two Kaitāia businessmen are listed, one of whom is also on the FNDC’s audit committee.  Presumably neither belong to the Kaitāia Business Association which has already been listed.

Since Borough and County Councils were collapsed into District and Regional Councils in the 1970s, local government in Northland has become a barking mad mess.  The BLG is led by men who are part of or peripheral to that mess.  Even worse, as can be seen from the above, its proposal hasn’t been well considered, critiqued or consulted about.  Unless the Electoral Commissioner looks beyond the 6 supportive individuals and 20 supportive organisations listed, and approaches the tens of thousands who are not, the tail will continue to waggle the dog.