Internal Affairs Minister and Napier MP Chris Tremain told Local Government New Zealand's annual conference in Hamilton yesterday that he could see "huge benefits" for ratepayers when councils collaborated, shared services and expertise.
At his first Local Government New Zealand Conference, which looks at Local Government reforms, Mr Tremain said Amalgamation was not for everyone.
"The Government, to date, has been clear that amalgamation is a community decision. In saying this I can personally see huge benefits for ratepayers when councils collaborate, share services and expertise.
"I'm aware of many positive examples of this happening already, and want to encourage it further," he said. "The Auckland amalgamation has delivered genuine savings for ratepayers."
He said the Efficiency Taskforce and the Infrastructure Expert Advisory Group noted the potential for efficiency gains by changing the scale at which services were planned, funded or delivered.
"This can be achieved by the reorganisation of councils, collaboration between councils and transferring responsibilities from territorial authorities to regional councils."
He was also excited by the idea framed by Hastings mayor and conference President Lawrence Yule, about a Centre of Excellence for Local Government.
"I think this is a superb opportunity to collaborate towards lifting the bar across the Local Government sector," he said. "A Centre of Excellence is one way to bring together existing performance improvement tools and approaches, and to develop and deliver new ones in a coordinated way across local government.
"It would showcase local government projects of best practice, both from within New Zealand and from outside. The aim would be to encourage the adoption of best practice for the benefit of ratepayers around the country."
He also spoke on housing affordability and said it was at the forefront of both central and local government.
"I am keen to see development contributions made more transparent and more tightly confined to infrastructure used in the development.
"There was strong support for the need to update and enhance guidance and training to councils on development contributions, and for consolidating and clarifying the current legislation."
He said the goals between elected members of New Zealand's two arms of government were similar.
"We all care about financial prudence, we all want to grow our local economies, we all want to deliver better services for our communities."