Your Daily Ten@10 - 2025/216

This is edition 2025/216 of the Ten@10 newsletter.

Hi all,

This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.

Enjoy!

• 🏛️ Major Overhaul Announced: The Government plans to abolish regional councils and replace them with Combined Territories Boards (CTBs) made up of mayors — the biggest local government shake-up since 1989.
• 💰 Waste and Duplication Tackled: Regional councils have long been seen as invisible, wasteful, and unaccountable; the reform aims to streamline and cut costs.
• 🧭 Simplification and Clarity: Ministers Simon Watts and Chris Bishop say the goal is fewer overlapping plans, less bureaucracy, and clearer accountability to voters.
• 👥 Democracy Concern: While the CTBs bring decisions closer to elected mayors, concerns remain that weighting votes to favour smaller districts could distort democratic fairness.
• 🏗️ Reorganisation Required: Each new CTB must produce a reorganisation plan within two years, potentially leading to council mergers or shared services to improve efficiency.
• 🌿 Tied to RMA Reforms: The changes align with wider resource-management reforms, redistributing environmental and planning powers previously held by regional councils.
• 🧹 Back to Basics: The Government is refocusing local government on “core services” — infrastructure, water, and regulation — removing vague “four well-beings” from the Act.
• 🚫 End of Mission Creep: Scrapping the “well-beings” curbs ideological spending and forces councils to deliver measurable outcomes ratepayers can see.
• ⚖️ Political Reactions Split: Labour’s Chris Hipkins hedges, warning against “fragmentation”; the Greens accuse the Government of weakening environmental and local democracy.
• 📰 Media Coverage Mixed: Some commentators, like Michael Laws, praise the change as overdue, while national outlets frame it as controversial and risky.
• 🗳️ Democratic Integrity Crucial: The success of the reforms depends on ensuring fair representation within CTBs and maintaining accountability to local communities.
• 🛠️ Philosophical Reset: The reforms mark a deliberate shift from social engineering to service delivery — a move many ratepayers are likely to welcome.