Acting PM compares Christchurch council staff to Putin

Friday, 20 June 2025

Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has slammed Christchurch City Council staff, likening them to Russia’s authoritarian leader and accusing them of bullying the mayor into criticising the Regulatory Standards Bill.

The comments come at a time when South Island local government leaders are concerned about an “assault” and “continual erosion” of local democracy by central Government.

The proposed Bill - an ACT Party project - and pending amendments to the Resource Management Act could see local rules overruled by new centralised powers.

Separately, government ministers are looking to limit councils’ main revenue source - without committing to alternative funding methods - and have mooted scrapping regional councils entirely.

“We do seem to be the whipping boy occasionally when polls get difficult for political parties of all persuasions,” Cr Sam MacDonald said.

‘Name calling’

Seymour’s criticism follows a decision by Christchurch councillors to endorse a submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill on Wednesday.

The submission included concerns about the absence of Treaty of Waitangi considerations (something many opponents of the Bill have cited), but was primarily focused on the Bill’s impact on local government autonomy.

It was the tikanga Māori concerns which Seymour’s Thursday interview with Chris Lynch focused on, with the conversation becoming about staff ideology.

Seymour said Mauger may have supported the council submission because he was intentionally kept “poorly informed” by staff with an agenda.

He likened council staff to Vladimir Putin, as they were unelected: “With Phil Mauger, the mayor, you have the option of voting him out.”

Mauger, who was clearly reluctant to wade into the issue, told The Press Seymour was “just having his say”.

He had not listened to the interview but was aware of the Putin comment.

“The Government will do what they want to do and judging by what they have done in the past couple of days… eh.”

When pressed on what he thought of the acting prime minister saying these things, Mauger did not have a chance to answer before MacDonald shut the interview down, saying Mauger was late for a meeting.

“You don’t need that,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald was far more willing to discuss the issue.

“We do seem to be the whipping boy occasionally when polls get difficult for political parties of all persuasions. We are easy canon fodder I guess, when we just need to get on and deliver what ratepayers want.”

MacDonald said the Putin comment was unhelpful - council staff could not defend themselves, and were already far more heavily scrutinised than central Government officials, he said.

“Personally I think people in New Zealand have bigger things to worry about than fighting with each other.”

Council chief executive Mary Richardson said the council submission was created “in good faith - expecting that council was participating in a democratic process where opinions are invited and respected”.

“It is unfortunate that the acting prime minister resorted to name-calling,” she said.

When also considering comments made by Housing Minister Chris Bishop about the council’s stance on housing intensification, there was proof of “continual erosion of local democracy”, deputy mayor Pauline Cotter said.

The coalition government had a “a kaupapa [of] a top-down approach,” she said.

Regional councils could be on the chopping block entirely, with Regional Development Minister Shane Jones saying this week it would be increasingly hard to justify their existence once the Resource Management Act changes go through.

Environment Canterbury chairperson Craig Pauling said regional councils need to be reformed, but Canterbury’s local and mana whenua voices needed to be at the table.

He said he was keen to engage with the Government to find a solution that worked for Waitaha - if they were up for it.

“That scab’s been lifted, let’s get into it,” he said.

“Let’s not have this from one end to the other end every election cycle. Let’s try to design something that’s going to be lasting. In Canterbury, there should be space for some form of regional governance oversight.”

Environment Canterbury’s deputy chairperson Deon Swiggs said he and Pauling had seen this threat coming, and was concerned about who would step up to do the work.

The role of regional councils was huge, encompassing resource management, flood protection, pest control, public transport and more.

Yet, Swiggs believed there was “an assault” on local government and they were being set up to fail: “… and then they fail, and the Government swoops in and saves them,” he said.

“Where is the local in local government?”

Selwyn mayor and Local Government New Zealand president Sam Broughton said the Government's recent announcements felt hypocritical to its election campaign to promote local decision-making.

“It feels like central Government always operates that way and has national rules that they want to apply to a local setting where it may or may not be appropriate.”

Broughton’s concerns were echoed by other South Island mayors.

Waimate mayor Craig Rowley said there had been a steady erosion of the ‘local’ from local government in recent years, while “incessant legislative changes” forced them to do more work without more money, putting pressure on rates.

“All councils in the country are reeling from Government overreach in local decision making,” he said.

Tasman mayor Tim King said, before the elections, the National Party campaigned on localism and heavily criticised the Labour government’s Three Waters reform on those grounds.

“You either believe in local decision making … or you don’t,” King said.

“I don't think you can pick and choose when you want to effectively play your trump card.”

Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark understood the Government’s unease with council spending. He too supported rates capping - though said this was very much a minority view.

Clark also supported merging regional council functions into city and district councils, saying there was existing tension between Southland’s rural sector and regional authority.