Q+A panel confirms why local government needs Real Change

Responding to this morning’s episode of TVNZ’s Q+A, ACT’s Local Government spokesperson Cameron Luxton says the panel made the case for change better than ACT ever could:



“If anyone’s wondering why ratepayers face crushing rates hikes, crumbling infrastructure, and endless division, just listen to the views being defended around the council table. This panel put it on full display.

“The four outgoing councillors sounded like they’d been swallowed whole by collective groupthink, completely ignoring the people who actually pay the bills.

“They claimed it’s dishonest to promise rates restraint – but clearly haven’t met ACT Local candidates. Ratepayers see local councils that are bloated, wasteful, and addicted to vanity projects. ACT Local councillors will get back to basics: roads, rubbish, and reliable water infrastructure.

“ACT councillors will do what ratepayers and businesses have been forced to do for years – take the chainsaw to pet projects and ‘nice-to-haves’ that have nothing to do with core services. That includes scrapping councils’ ideological obsession with expensive speed bumps and cycleways, and actually listening to the people who pay rates.

“In central government, ACT is making this easier for councils by pushing RMA reform, fixing infrastructure funding and financing, exploring GST sharing with councils, and developing regional deals.

“Then there’s Māori wards. Every panelist backed race-based seats or automatic places for mana whenua with no democratic accountability. Labour deliberately rewrote the law so only some New Zealanders can vote for certain candidates based on who their great-grandparents were without opportunity for the local community to object to this division.

"Council seats should be based on geography, where anyone can vote if they live in the area, regardless of their identity. That's how it works for every other ward, including rural wards, despite the attempts from some media and councils to frame it differently. That’s why ACT has restored communities’ right to remove these divisive Māori Ward seats.

“ACT Local candidates will cut waste to keep rates low, end divisive race-based privileges, and bring some long-overdue common sense back to the council table.”