Northland Regional Council chairman Pita Tipene has called on Cabinet ministers to stop making “derogatory” comments about councils.
Representatives from local and regional councils gathered in the Beehive’s Banquet Hall for the All of Local Government conference on Thursday.
Deputy PrimeMinister David Seymour had just delivered a speech about his Regulatory Standards Act and how it will impact councils once it takes effect as law.
Tipene got to his feet at the end of the question-and-answer session afterwards.
“I can quote them but I won’t. I’m really trying to get the message across that we are in this together and those sorts of comments, while we embrace change, must stop.”
Councillors broke into applause when Tipene stopped speaking.
Seymour responded by saying he was “a lover, not a fighter”.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour responded, highlighting the importance of unity and constructive regulation. Photo / Alyse Wright
“You guys can probably judge from the presentation today, I’m not bagging anyone. We do need to work together, we do to be more constructive and having a focus around a better conception of what good regulation looks like is a good way to unite us.
“We are all together as one, brother.”
Speaking to RNZ afterwards, Tipene said he was sick of the Government bagging on local government.
“There are comments that come from Cabinet ministers, in fact from the Prime Minister himself, who say things like ‘councils have got no social licence’.
“When the first media statement came out from minister Simon Watts, he said, not exactly but close to these words, ‘nobody knows who their regional council chairs are, everyone knows who their mayors are, they’re getting on with the fluffy stuff’.
“It’s really playing councils off against each other because the focus is squarely on regional councils. So my point was, we, central Government and local government, are in this together.
“We need to be proactive, positive and working together, not being disparaging towards local government.”
