"Localism and Devolution" Part 1: the revival of local in local government,

A practical alternative to 'globalism' fully grounded in New Zealand's own culture and traditions

‘Ka mua, ka muri’

There is a Maori proverb, ‘Ka mua, ka muri,’ often expounded as ‘I walk backwards into the future, with my eyes fixed on the past.’

As we grapple with the various disruptions that have occurred in our national life over the past 40 years, we would do well to consider 'the old New Zealand,’ within which our forbears formed a culture in this country with a definable set of community-based values. A healthy human respect for everyone, regardless of our differences. A genuine desire for everyone to have a ‘fair go,’ with the opportunity for even those from less privileged backgrounds to be able to enter the professions through being supported into tertiary-level training, and excel by developing their own innate abilities. And communal ownership of the facilities to which we all, as taxpayers and ratepayers, contributed over many years, (such as hydro-dams, water supply infrastructure, oil refinery et c.), with the benefits of these community assets accruing to all.

Today in New Zealand we have burgeoning Government debts, serious financial mismanagement in numerous government departments (for example, the failure to provide sufficient social housing, the failure to upgrade school properties, and let’s not get started on hospitals). And at the local level, we have rapidly increased costs for water, drainage and waste supplies, road maintenance and construction, et c. And then we have various economic and tax proposals at election time which may or may not produce useful results... But all of them are merely slightly different variations on the same theme, which often don’t result in building up local communities in the ways that is really needed.

A Solid British Approach:

Gwyn Bevan, Professor of Policy and Analysis in the Department of Management at the London School of Economics, in his recent book, ‘How Did Britain Come to This?’ analyses the development of public administration from the recovery after WWII to today’s crisis situation in which government finances are blown out, tax policy is confused and no party has a solution that seems to lead to greener pastures. Prof. Bevan prescribes, at least as a good starting point, ‘a radical devolution to the regions, with central government to act as regulator and enabler.’

A summary of these concepts may be gleaned from a recent forum held at the LSE: Prof Gwyn Bevan at LSE Forum

The New Zealand situation: the structures of local government

The point is that both the diagnosis and the prescription that Prof. Bevan gives could very well be applied to the New Zealand situation, in at least an analogous way.

The 2023 ‘Review into the Future for Local Government’ produced many good ideas, including a strong thematic focus on ‘localism,’ and promoting the importance of local government for people's overall well being. However, what the Review didn’t do was actually put forth a plan to re-organise local government in a rational, systematic way, to be able to start to overcome the weaknesses that were diagnosed within the current environment. The rationale for this may have been a reliance upon laissez faire - let it happen as it may. But could that approach really lead to the best result we all so desperately need? The thing is that if we don’t have a definite plan or programme to work to, then we will simply be tossed around by whatever freak wave comes along…

Yes, of course there are several smaller district councils in various parts of the country that simply do not have sufficient rating income to enable them to provide everything that their communities need, let alone develop new facilities to provide for an increased population, or even to build new public toilets for increased tourist visitor numbers. But more than that, many of the main metropolitan and city governments are not able to fix up and provide everything that they need either. Most notably, perhaps, with water supplies, waste water and drainage services, roads and so on.

“The Province”

The Province is a concept of integrated local administration well known in our own history. Provinces generally form a strong part of our cultural memory. At least we all enjoy to have an annual public holiday to remember our provincial history, if not only to celebrate the local sports teams. However, the point is that we need local government units large enough to be able to easily provide the facilities and infrastructure needed, and still small enough that people can relate to and consider as their ‘home area,’ their ‘own community.’

My suggestion is that we revive the province as an integrated local administration, following (roughly) the boundaries of the present ‘regional’ councils (with some notable changes), but providing more than what the regional councils give us. Thus, we can adapt the older concept to become both meaningful and practical in our present-day circumstances.

To this end, I suggest we create 19 new provinces, together with 6 urban authorities, and devolve as much or as many governmental functions as is feasible down to this local level.

Below is my suggested scheme for this, covering the three main islands. It seems that the Chatham Islands are really doing quite well with their current County Council structure, so my proposals here concern only the rest of the country.

In Part 2, some possible strategies for implementing this radical localism in New Zealand, and why it could be beneficial, will be discussed. Implementation may require radical ‘tax swaps’ and a ‘radical devolution’ of government services that have been hitherto monopolised by the centralised state. See this now as “Localism and Devolution” Part 2: The tax swap and what goes with it…

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The North Island Provinces (with their constituent districts):

Northland – Far North, Whangarei, Kaipara;

Waikato – Waikato, Hamilton, Waipa, Matamata-Piako, Hauraki, Thames-Coromandel;

Tauranga – Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty;

Taranaki – New Plymouth, Stratford, South Taranaki;

King Country – Otorohanga, Waitomo, Ruapehu (less the areas forming the original Waimarino County);

Taupo–Tokoroa – Taupo and South Waikato, (plus that part of Rotorua District that is presently included in Waikato Region);

Rotorua & Eastern Bay of Plenty – Rotorua (less that part of Rotorua District that is presently included in Waikato Region), Whakatane, Kawerau, Opotiki;

Gisborne;

Wanganui–Rangitikei: -Wanganui, Rangitikei, and Waimarino;

Hawkes Bay – Wairoa, Hastings, Napier, Central Hawke’s Bay;

Manawatu - Manawatu, Palmerston North, Tararua, Horowhenua;

Wairarapa – Masterton, Carterton, South Wairarapa;

The Urban Authorities:

Auckland City and the Wellington ‘Pentapolis’ (the present five cities, Wellington, Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua and Kapiti Coast) may remain as individual urban authorities.  The Wellington Pentapolis may require a coordinating body to facilitate their common and shared interests.

The South Island Provinces (with their constituent districts):

Nelson-Tasman;

Marlborough;

West Coast – Buller, Grey, Westland;

Canterbury – Kaikoura, Hurunui, Waimakariri, Christchurch, Selwyn, Ashburton;

Aoraki - Timaru, Waimate, Mackenzie, Waitaki (less Waihemo County, i.e., areas south from Dansey’s Pass-Shag Point);

Otago – Queenstown, Wanaka & Upper Clutha, Central Otago, Clutha, Dunedin (including coastal areas from Warrington south, the city, Peninsula and Taieri plains); Eastern Otago (including Waihemo, Middlemarch);

Southland – Southland, Gore, Invercargill, Rakiura.