There was no point my friends and I going to win the war if when we came home you all lost the peace, how you say; this is done by (1) not voting, mindsets such as you were too busy, you didn’t know much about the candidates or what council’s duties are, (2) voting on popularity instead of voting on policy as well as statements such as they always win so what’s the point, if you want change you have to vote for it.
Council’s duties are to improve your life, not to control it, our councils should be making a profit by delivering better services you asked for, this is so we can afford the services, this is not to take over the entire economy as a traditional fascist state but to help provide services we need and help the local private sector to flourish through consultation and co-operation but not monopolisation, our economy needs to be Kiwi citisens owning and running our economy not working in the economy so that foreign entities can profit from our efforts, this is what a strong, independent middle class looks like which in turn makes a strong independent country.
You have lost control of your council’s, they are not corrupt they are just doing what’s in their best interest, remember in any organisation if you as the owner do not create and foster a culture then the people in that organisation will create their own and it will not benefit you. This is done firstly by setting up entities like Council Controlled Organisations (CCO’s), Council Trading Organisations (CTO’s) and using third party organisations/contractors.
How it all works currently is that an incorporated society named Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) who is not part of Government has attached itself as an advisory group to Councils. They do have mayors and Councillors elected to this organisation effectively making all councils one giant council, they elect members to the entity through 6 zones from Far North to Invercargill and 3 sectors metro, regional, provincial or rural, each of these have committees and then some of these members are part of CCO’s and CTO’s like Quayside, the issues are firstly clarity or transparency, LGNZ runs surveys of 3000 people across the country and this is what makes up their advice to the councils including advise from other entities such as councilMark, the second issue is that they (Councillors and these non-government agencies) have broken down into smaller groups including investment groups the people do not have oversight of these assets or the expenditure, the people do not have say over the borrowing or funds raised.
The next group which is a CCO of councils is the Local government Funding Agency (LGFA) this is a very concerning entity as the central government is an 20% shareholder and the other 80% shareholding is made up of 77 councils out of 78 (Chattem Islands is not currently a member), these councils are Borrowers and Guarantors (except central government) all the borrowed debt may be unsecured or as LGFA has said only secured against the rates, the issue is that if one council goes bankrupt or insolvent then the rest are guarantors.
As of 14 Mar 2024, Findings from the Infometrics report:
“Over the past three years, costs have significantly gone up:
- Bridges are 38% more expensive to build,
- Sewage systems are 30% more expensive to build,
- Roads and water supply system are 27% more expensive to build.
All councils are facing increasing costs for existing assets and services due to
- Inflation
- Cost of servicing debt
- Increasing insurance costs and audit costs.
“Councils’ share of overall tax revenue has remained at 2% of GDP for the last 50 years, despite our ever-increasing responsibilities,” says Mayor Campbell Barry.
“On top of the cost increases to existing assets and services, councils also face new pressures that require new spending. “, at no point has anyone stopped and asked why or how we can change this.
The New spending is coming from infrastructure regulations passed and enforced by central government, meaning that each year councils are borrowing an extra $1BNZD/p.a. from LGFA which is sold to the private sector.
Councils are also creating investment funds which have no public oversight and then selling shares to the private sector, the councils then report that they are a shareholder and that they do have some say over what public projects funded but this also affects local companies and it could be argued that local economic development suffers from large investors such as these investment firms competing with them whilst the local economic development funds are anemic.
Councils do reflect their constituency, the people are more interested in their own lives and so does council, you have lost control of your councils and your central government, it has been said “that in order for evil to succeed all that is required is that good men do nothing”, Men it is your responsibility to lead your families, these are the discussions that you need to have with your family, you need to lead by example and take your family and friends down to the voting booth to vote, you all wear poppies and participate in what the government has turned into a recruiting campaign, honour my friends who died, honour the men and women that return and suffer with things like PTSD and returning to normal life win the peace this is the partnership that we expect from our citizens that is what we are fighting for, stand up and be counted.