The reality is that He Puapua is alive and well in local government and in spite of the coalition pledge to ‘Stop all work on He Puapua’, it is now so rampant that it is threatening to take over the sector entirely, with very significant consequences for ratepayers.
A more direct approach will be needed to get the sector back on track: trimming the bureaucracy and operations to ensure council rate increases are no greater than the rate of inflation, instigating debt repayment plans and undoing the grip of tribal interests would be a good start.
These dreadful developments were the result of Labour’s unmandated decision to increase tribal control over local government.
if the coalition’s proposed law change contains “tikanga”, it cannot safeguard the public interest in the coast from the actions of activist judges in the future.
Is fear of being labelled “climate deniers” – to be pilloried by the press and scoffed at by opponents – the real reason New Zealand Parliamentarians are too scared to challenge this ideology?
