Jaspreet Boparai
voicesforfreedom.co.nz
- LGNZ or Local Government New Zealand (www.lgnz.co.nz) is the lobby body for our councils with the remit to be the voice of local government in Wellington.
- Councils pay an annual subscription fee for their membership of LGNZ, depending on the population – usually in the tens of thousands of dollars.
- Nationally, nearly $4 million of ratepayers’ funds go towards the annual LGNZ membership charges. (https://www.lgnz.co.nz/assets/Annual-Report/Annual-Report-2021-2022.pdf)
- LGNZ signed a Heads of agreement with the Crown in 2021 – “Partnering Commitment towards the Delivery of the Three Waters Reforms”, essentially drowning out local voices that pay millions for the privilege of its membership. (https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/Three-waters-reform-programme/$file/heads-of-agreement-partnering-commitment-to-support-three-waters-service-delivery-reform.pdf)
- In 2015, LGNZ’s position paper on 3 waters concluded that -” the sector is not fundamentally broken – with services confirmed to be reliably delivered at reasonable cost. This suggests that full-blown economic regulation of the sector is unnecessary, and the costs seen in other sectors regulated this way would likely outweigh the benefits of change.” (https://www.lgnz.co.nz/assets/2aa82f85f1/29617-three-Waters-Position-Paper.pdf)
- In contrast to its 2015 position on 3 Waters, in 2021 , LGNZ decided that ” full blown economic regulation” was the answer . Before any consultation with communities, LGNZ signed off a MOU with the government :” LGNZ considers: (a) the Three Waters Reform Programme is in the national interest of local government and the communities that it represents;”
- Councils have begun expressing their displeasure with LGNZ – some by withholding part of their annual LGNZ fees and others by exiting LGNZ altogether like the Timaru District Council. (https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/126525280/timaru-council-votes-to-leave-local-government-new-zealand)
- Over 30 councils have set up an alternative to the reforms supported by LGNZ – Communities 4 Local Democracy. (https://www.communities4localdemocracy.co.nz/about)
