News & Media

Before Christmas, some elected members and councils received a message from an organisation known as Hobson’s Pledge arguing that LGNZ was providing councils with misleading advice regarding their obligations to Māori.   

Designed by and with local government, Ākona is LGNZ’s new learning and development programme, specifically designed for elected local government officials.  

The advice sets out relevant considerations that councils must have when making decisions about whether to stop or limit the provision of services infrastructure, and potential liability consequences that may flow from their decisions.  

If you’re under 40, you’re a Young Elected Member and it’s time to elect your Committee. Find out what the YEM Committee does, how to stand and how to vote online. 

As part of the Government’s cost of living package, fares on all public transport services around the country were reduced from 1 April this year. The subsidy is set to end on 31 March 2023.

A key local government concern about Three Waters Reform is whether local voice will be heard. Each of the four water service entities will have its own constitution that sets out details about how it’s governed and held accountable. The Minister of Local Government has asked local government to codesign the content of these constitutions through four working groups, one for each entity (see her letter). LGNZ’s National Council has agreed to gather nominations for people to be on these working groups to lead that process.  

We've now shared our resource management draft submission and our Three Waters submission outline.

Simpson Grierson has prepared a summary document that outlines changes proposed in the Local Government Official Informational and Meetings Amendment Bill.

The Government’s resource management reform bills have had their first reading. These bills have now been referred to the Environment Select Committee – with a very tight deadline of 30 January for written submissions.  To help councils start on their submissions, we’ve shared our submission outline, which highlights issues that councils are also likely to want to submit on. 

The Natural and Built Environment Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill have now been referred to the Environment Select Committee – with a deadline of 30 January for written submissions. “This is a once in a generation planning reform.