Purpose
The Commission has been asked to identify opportunities for both central and local government to improve the regulatory performance of local government. This includes regulation-making processes, appropriate principles for the allocation of regulatory roles between central and local government, and better ways to assess the regulatory performance of local government.
The Commission has carried out an extensive assessment of local government regulatory performance, including substantial engagement with local authorities and other interested parties. This report sets out a reform programme to improve local government regulatory performance.
Methodology
The Commission’s findings and recommendations have been informed by a comprehensive engagement process. This began with the release of the inquiry Issues Paper, which attracted 59 submissions. This was followed by the release of a Draft Report, which outlined tentative findings and presented a number of options for reform for which feedback was sought. Sixty-two submissions were received on the Draft Report.
Information from the inquiry submissions has been supplemented by approximately 112 engagement meetings with representatives from community groups, local government, businesses and central government agencies. A roundtable discussion was also held with senior officials from central government agencies that had a particular interest in and interface with local government. The Commission looked to, where possible, use innovative ways to engage with local government, such as a webinar coordinated through SOLGM, local government cluster meetings and online discussion forums.
The inquiry benefited from the input from an expert Reference Panel, drawn from leaders in the local government sector. The Reference Panel provided important insights about local government and acted as a sounding-board for findings and recommendations. The Panel members were Peter Winder, Basil Chamberlain and David Perenara-O’Connell (for part of the inquiry).
The Commission also conducted two surveys—one aimed at eliciting the views of all local authorities in New Zealand (responses sought from a chief executive officer or senior regulatory manager) and the other targeted at 1,500 New Zealand businesses from a cross-section of industries. Further, case studies on specific regulatory areas have been developed.
The Commission also carried out extensive analysis of Statistics New Zealand data in order to better understand the nature and diversity across local authorities, including research into the composition of regional economies and labour markets.
Together, these have provided a rich picture of the regulatory landscape in which local government operates and how business and the community interact with, and are impacted by, the regulatory system.
Key Results
Local government regulation is mostly shaped by central government. To operate effectively, New Zealand’s regulatory regime needs effective engagement and collaboration between the two levels of government.
- At present, there are diverse understandings and attitudes towards the respective roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and constitutional settings of the two levels of government.
- To encourage the achievement of good regulatory outcomes by local government, nine functions need to be performed, involving both levels of government. Responsibility does not appear to have been allocated for some of these functions.
- These gaps, combined with the current lack of effective engagement between the two levels of government, suggest that new organisational arrangements may be needed to bring about the effective implementation of the reform agenda proposed in this report.
- Effective relationships between leaders can improve the situation, but enduring improvement requires an effective institutional structure to give substance and support to engagement between the two levels of government.
- This structure needs to involve both politicians and officials with the support of a small secretariat. Elements of the necessary structure already exist, but require more status and priority.
- Each level of government should:
- review whether its current organisations are capable of developing and implementing a reform programme for local government regulation; and
- jointly consider establishing a new inter-governmental forum, the purpose of which would be to initiate, develop and monitor the implementation of significant initiatives to improve the achievement of regulatory outcomes that require cooperative action by both levels of government.