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Local Aotearoa

@localaotearoa.nz

89 followers 4 following 80 posts

Started as a podcast, now a broader project looking to raise the profile of local government in New Zealand and the issues it faces. Visit us at www.localaotearoa.nz

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Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 1d

From making sure you've read all your council papers through to the special joy of reply all emails, a former district councillor shares his advice to help the incoming 2025 cohort of councillors, mayors, and chairs survive the coming triennium.
open.substack.com/pub/localaot...

So, you’ve been elected: A former councillor’s survival guide

As the dust settles on this year’s local government elections, a new group of freshly elected and returning councillors are preparing themselves to tackle the coming triennium.

open.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 7d

Love local democracy? 🧡

Show it by making sure to cast your votes in your local government elections by 12 noon, Saturday 11 October. 🗳
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/vote-befor...

Vote before 12 noon, Saturday 11 October!

If you haven’t already, please remember to cast your vote in your local government elections.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 12d

A big tick for more transparency! ☑️ That's the message from GWRC candidates who responded to a question about whether they supported the council opening up its currently closed-door workshops and briefings in line with most other councils.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/greater-we...

Greater Wellington candidates want to open up workshops and briefings

The majority of Greater Wellington Regional Council candidates who responded to a question from Local Aotearoa want the council to open up its closed-door workshops and briefings to the public, bringi...

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 13d

Local Aotearoa reached out to Kāpiti's six mayoral candidates to give them an opportunity to share their views on Kāpiti's role in any possible amalgamation of councils in the Wellington region.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/three-kapi...

Three Kāpiti mayoral candidates share views on amalgamation

Wellington local government amalgamation has implications for Kāpiti regardless of whether we’re in or out of a hypothetical regional entity.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 13d

Greater Wellington's CEO and Chair kept a warning letter from the Ombudsman secret from councillors and their risk committee, raising questions about the commitment of GWRC's two most senior figures to basic principles of transparency and accountability.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councillor...

Councillors and risk committee kept in dark over Ombudsman's warning

EXCLUSIVE: Greater Wellington Regional Council’s CEO and its Chair kept both councillors and their Finance, Risk and Assurance Committee completely in the dark about a warning letter from the Ombudsma...

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 14d

Investing in professional development is a positive thing, but with public money it comes with transparency and accountability. So what's with a Kāpiti Coast councillor launching a Trumpian attack on their "political enemies" over a LGOIMA request?
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councillor...

Councillor channels Trump: attacks "political enemies", opposes transparency

One Kāpiti Coast District Councillor has echoed the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump in railing against her perceived “political enemies”.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 21d

The key thing about a joke - perhaps its most important defining element - is that it’s funny.

We'll leave it up to you to decide if a candidate joking about te reo Māori is funny and what doing so instead of answering an easy question says about them.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/act-candid...

ACT candidate claims refusal to answer question due to "Aotearoa" was a joke

Between you and me, the key thing about a joke - perhaps the single most important defining element, arguably the main aspect which separates it from being confused or misconstrued, the bit that makes...

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 22d

I mean, if even King Charles III can use Aotearoa to refer to our country… 🤷‍♂️
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/act-counci...

ACT council candidate can't answer question due to "Aotearoa"

It was a simple question on whether or not candidates thought Greater Wellington Regional Council should open up its workshops and briefings as recommended by the Ombudsman.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 27d

Another day, another dumb campaign policy to call out.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/candidates...

Candidates can't cut councillors' pay, and for good reason

Controversial opinion: Local government politicians are generally underpaid for the role they perform.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · 28d

Despite early setbacks, Wayne Brown has used the profile, powers, and resources of Auckland's mayoralty in a way that his predecessors were unwilling to embrace. He now looks set to win an even bigger electoral landslide than he achieved in 2022.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/from-flood...

From flood fiasco to looming landslide: Wayne Brown's mayoral turnaround

Few mayoralties have gotten off to a worse start than Wayne Brown’s.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Sep 11

As we've been saying...

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 31

The reality is rates capping is a choice between investing now or leaving our kids and grandkids to pick up the tab for our short-sightedness. It's almost as if we've learnt nothing from the decades of under-investment in three waters infrastructure. 🤦‍♂️
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/rates-capp...

Rates capping: lazy politics for lazy politicians

With Local Government Minister Simon Watts working on a rates capping policy to go to Cabinet before Christmas, it’s worth calling out the idea for what it is - lazy politics for lazy politicians.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 26

It’s easy to talk up alternative visions when the people floating them aren’t paying. The real challenge is delivering realistic, funded proposals. If someone’s colourful kite flying doesn’t come with a price tag and a plan, you’re right to be sceptical.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/colourful-...

Colourful kites but empty ideas? The art of political kite flying

One of my favourite parts of local government elections (and Parliamentary ones too) is the time-honoured tradition of kite flying.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 26

In politics, some kites take off and become real, useful projects. But others are cynically intended to muddy the waters, spike actual realistic proposals, promote unviable pet projects, or are used to distract from the real issues.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/colourful-...

Colourful kites but empty ideas? The art of political kite flying

One of my favourite parts of local government elections (and Parliamentary ones too) is the time-honoured tradition of kite flying.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 17

Candidates often promise to freeze or slash rates increases while somehow not reducing core council services or infrastructure. Yet if you want to know how they'll achieve this, you'll usually only find vacuous statements rather than transparent costings. 🤨
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/promises-t...

Promises to slash rates increases without specific costings aren't worth the pixels they're projected on

It’s age old advice that isn’t heeded as much as it should be: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 9

Watching the reactions of NIMBYs lately we can safely conclude that they're deeply unserious people, saying deeply unserious things, about a deeply unserious ideology.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/deeply-uns...

Deeply unserious NIMBYs saying deeply unserious things

One of the great sources of fun when dealing with NIMBYs comes from reading the deeply unserious arguments and comparisons they make while attempting to justify their objective failure of an ideology.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 4

While most councils are currently using AI tools in some form to boost their productivity, nearly half of councils are yet to adopt formal AI policies or guidelines to manage risks around this transformational technology.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/councils-e...

Councils embracing AI opportunities, but guardrails lag behind

An exclusive investigation from Local Aotearoa can reveal that while most councils are using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to boost productivity, nearly half of councils don’t yet have fo...

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Aug 1

“I’m over our local NIMBYs. They say they want to preserve Kāpiti’s character, but the character they’re wanting to preserve carries higher economic, social, and environment costs than intensification. It’s a character that ends up locking people out of housing.”
open.substack.com/pub/localaot...

The long read: NIMBYism belongs in the ash heap of history

I’ll apologise in advance for what’s quite a long post, but we need to be frank.

open.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jul 30

Calls to shut down local govt are nothing but libertarian brain rot, devoid of any understanding of the impacts of such a move, and made by those living a life of privilege whose money would shield them from the societal costs of their twisted fever dream.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/calls-to-s...

Calls to shut down local government are libertarian brain rot

A few days ago a prominent high-flying property developer took to LinkedIn to proclaim that we should “SHUT DOWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT”.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jul 29

Sorry ranting LinkedIn reply troll from last week, Wellington City Council's business rates aren't to blame for the city's economic woes. You'll find the people responsible for the city's economic downturn are those currently occupying the Beehive.
open.substack.com/pub/localaot...

Wellington City Council isn't to blame for the city's economic malaise

Last week Wellington City Mayor Tory Whanau highlighted the threat posed from the Coalition’s local government reforms for the council’s ability to support some of the city’s iconic events such as Cub...

open.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jul 22

With reforms shrinking local govt's sphere of influence and creating a greatly constrained operating environment with all of the blame and none of the power, the personal and professional costs for those serving on councils may now be too high for many.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/local-gove...

Local government's shrinking sphere of influence

Following along with the events that unfolded at last week’s LGNZ SuperLocal conference, I’ve been struggling to coalesce my thoughts on what it all means for local democracy.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jun 26

"All the ingredients that would normally lend themselves to providing solid campaign platforms for candidates should be there. Yet there’s a sort of general malaise about it all and I can’t put my finger on why it is."
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/2025s-loca...

2025's local government elections feel flat...

Something seems to be missing from this year’s local government elections.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jun 24

Once again we find ourselves discussing the question of whether local government is fit for purpose. Once again the catalyst for this is another attempt to reform the Resource Management Act.... So are regional councils really facing the axe?
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/are-region...

Are regional councils facing the axe?

Once again we find ourselves discussing the question of whether local government is fit for purpose.

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jun 18

Despite the Ombudsman warning two councils that their actions might be contrary to local government legislation, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Upper Hutt City Council are still refusing to open their secret workshops and briefings to the public.
localaotearoa.substack.com/p/greater-we...

Greater Wellington, Upper Hutt thumb noses at Ombudsman's transparency expectations

Despite having outgoing Ombudsman Peter Boshier write with a “please explain” over their refusal to open up their secret workshops and briefings, documents exclusively obtained by Local Aotearoa show ...

localaotearoa.substack.com

Local Aotearoa @localaotearoa.nz · Jun 4

If voters don't want political parties in local government then why do they keep electing party candidates? Contrary to Christopher Luxon's latest rant, it seems plenty of electors are pretty comfortable with party aligned councillors in local democracy. localaotearoa.substack.com/p/dont-want-...

Don't want political parties in local government? Then don't have democracy

The closer we get to this year’s local government elections, the more frequently we’re hearing people decry the presence of political parties in local government.

localaotearoa.substack.com