LGOIMA Request Details

I refer to your official information request dated 29 January 2024.  

The information you have requested is below.  

Context 

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) met on 18 September 2023 to discuss the Future for Local Government (FfLG) Review Panel's 17 recommendations. LGNZ then held a special meeting on 11 December 2023 to discuss their FfLG consensus outcome paper, which articulated five recommendations that LGNZ were proposing to be submitted to central Government.  

ManawatÅ« District Council's response 

19 October 2023 

The ManawatÅ« District Council held a workshop session on 19 October 2023 to discuss the views of its elected members. 

Members indicated "support", "maybe" or "do not support" for each of the FfLG Review Panel's recommendations. Please note that there were members who did not indicate a response for some of the questions. Accompanying notes showing the breakdown of these views are contained in this link – LG_2241_Documents_for_release.zip

This exercise was completed anonymously – members wrote on post-it notes and added these to large A2 sheets of paper hung on the wall. This means that we are unable to provide information around which specific members indicated support (or non-support) for each recommendation. 

Please also note that this was a brainstorming exercise carried out in an informal workshop meeting. 

07 December 2023 

The ManawatÅ« District Council held another workshop session on 07 December 2023 to discuss LGNZ's FfLG consensus outcome paper, and for the Mayor to get a sense of the views of elected members on these. These views were sought because the Mayor has the voting role at the LGNZ meeting, on behalf of the Council. 

One of these five recommendations relates to your question, and was titled: 
"Create stronger, more authentic relationships between local government and iwi, hapÅ« and Māori".  

The content of this recommendation was asking Councils to support central Government to legislate how these relationships are shaped, and to provide statutory provisions on how this is done. 

The elected member's majority view (not the view of each individual member) was not in support of this recommendation, on the basis that members felt that every Council should be encouraged and free to build an authentic relationship with their local iwi in a manner that works best for all parties. Members felt that the Government should not mandate a 'one size fits all' approach. 

This was a group discussion with no written notes, so we are unable to advise which individual members were in support (or non-support) of LGNZ's recommendation.  

The Mayor has previously indicated that she is happy to talk to members of the public around any aspect of the Future for Local Government Review. Please feel free to contact the Council to arrange an appointment if you would like to discuss this with her further.