Simon Watts promised to ‘fix’ local government – but he's is about to make it even worse

Dear Supporter,

We've uncovered major fishhooks buried deep inside Simon Watts' "Local Government (Systems Improvement) Bill" currently before Parliament and in the last stages.

It's not a politically sexy issue, and it's technical. But if we are to fix local government, it's essential.

The Bill was sold as a reform to "strengthen local democracy" – reining in overmighty council bureaucracies and restoring power to elected councillors.

But in reality, the Bill does the exact opposite.

It hands more power to unelected council bureaucrats by making the council Chief Executives the gatekeepers of information.

That means the very officials councillors are supposed to oversee can decide what elected representatives are allowed to see.

It is a breathtaking inversion of democracy.

Background

For more than a decade, the Taxpayers' Union has argued that we cannot expect our local councils to be effectively governed when mayors and councillors don't have full rights to access information akin to company directors.

No company director would tolerate a CEO refusing to answer questions on the basis of "commercial sensitivity" or an excuse that it's "an operational matter".

But that is precisely the excuses being used every day to undermine local councillors (and even Mayors) from doing their jobs.

We thought we'd won the issue! The Govt said it would be strengthening councillors' rights to get information from officials

Despite 12 years of our efforts, successive Governments/Local Government Ministers have ignored the issue of council bureaucrats blocking elected officials from asking awkward questions.

Nearly every month, we are approached by councillors asking for help to get basic information out of their own councils!

But former Local Government Minister Simeon Brown really got it. Soon after the Luxon Government was elected, Simeon Brown promised us he'd fix the law and adopt our recommendations.

But (to put it simply) the more recent Minister, Simon Watts, has screwed it up.

This morning, I joined Michael Laws (who serves on the Otago Regional Council and fully understands the issue) on The Platform.

You can watch the interview here.

Simon Watts' proposed law change would make the situation even worse!

We've obtained independent legal advice from one of New Zealand's top public law firms. It concludes that Watts' Bill, as worded, would actually make councillors worse off in terms of their rights to information than as it stands now.

The opinion warns the Bill:

• elevates the Chief Executive into a statutory veto-holder over councillors' access to information;
  
  
• imposes more restrictive legal thresholds that councillors must satisfy before getting information;
  
  
• creates rights for councillors that are inferior to those already enjoyed by ordinary members of the public under freedom of information law (LGOIMA); and
  
  
• undermines elected members in their role as democratic overseers of council bureaucracies.

Jordan, here's the contrast: a random member of the public can request official information from a council without even giving a reason. But under Simon Watts' Local Government (Systems Improvement) Bill, elected councillors — the very people voters chose to govern the council — will have to justify to their CEO why they "need" information before the bureaucrats decide whether to hand it over.

Watts is turning democracy upside down and confirming the fox as guarding the hen house.

Anyone who has served on a Board will know that it is the rare occasions where you might need to second-guess, or verify, a CEO's assurances that are the most important.

Our lawyers describe it as "truly extraordinary" that Parliament is progressing legislation which starts from the presumption that councillors must justify requests for information when ordinary members of the public do not.

While Simon Watts is claiming in media statements that the Bill "increases" the rights of councillors to obtain information, it simply doesn't.

Documents vs Information

Even worse, the Bill narrows councillors' rights to access information to "documents" only.

That means officials can simply avoid recording inconvenient advice, concerns, or warnings in formal documents — and councillors may never see it.

Again, anyone who has sat on a company board will know, it's often the information not written down or contained in documents that is the most important.

Expecting local councillors to effectively hold their CEO to account when staff are not required to answer councillors' specific questions is madness.

The Bill was supposed to fix the problem of the people elected to govern councils being kept in the dark. But Watts' bill gives the dimmer to the very staff councillors are supposed to supervise...

How we can win this

Yesterday, we wrote to every councillor and mayor to raise awareness of this issue. We are sure the vast majority of councillors will agree that having the tools to demand information from officials is essential for them to do their jobs effectively.

Every councillor — whether Labour, National, independent, rural, urban, majority or minority — should have the right to access the information necessary to scrutinise spending, test advice, challenge assumptions, expose waste, and hold council management accountable.

You can read my letter to the Mayors and Councillors here.

The legal advice (explaining why the law change is actually a step backwards from the common law / status quo) is here.

At the end of the legal opinion is a draft amendment that would fix the Bill.

Jordan, this is not a left-versus-right issue – it's a democracy-versus-bureaucracy issue.

A month ago, we had our lawyers write to the Minister. We also shared the legal advice – we fear the Departmental Officials (who are very close to the local government quango LGNZ) have snookered the Government's intentions to empower local government oversight.

We also separately reached out to the Minister's office, asking for an interview with Simon Watts about this Bill. After all, the Minister meets with LGNZ every week but has met with us once (unless you count a short conversation at the Nats' stall at Fieldays).

But we've had radio silence. To date, Watts seems unwilling to defend his own law changes!

We need your help too, Jordan

If you agree that to fix local government, we need to ensure elected officials have access to the information necessary to second-guess officials, we need two minutes of your time.

Local democracy will continue to disappoint so long as bureaucrats decide what elected representatives are permitted to know.

Please email Simon Watts asking him to (1) fix this Bill, or (2) at least front up to the Taxpayers' Union for an interview.

The Government promised to fix this – but is about to deliver a law change that will make it worse.

Ratepayers need Simon Watts to step in with the necessary amendments to fix the Bill before it passes the last steps in Parliament.

That could be as early as next week. Time is of the essence.

If you are sick of local council bureaucrats being unaccountable, we need you to click here and send a message to Mr Watts to add your voice to this effort.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

P.S. You can read my letter to the mayors and councillors here. We also sent to all councillors the Franks Ogilvie legal opinion with suggested amendments to the Bill.