Scrap regional councils, says regional development minister

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Shane Jones at the Future Proofing New Zealand forum, hosted by The Post and Infrastructure NZ, in Wellington on Wednesday night.

“What is the point of regional government?”, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones asked a room full of local government figures at Wednesday evening’s The Post and Infrastructure New Zealand Local Government Forum.

Jones said it was NZ First’s view “that there is less and less of a justifiable purpose for maintaining regional government” once the Resource Management Act changes go through.

“After the upcoming changes to the RMA, I doubt, well, certainly in the party I belong to, that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist.“

He asked the question in front of about 150 figures from local and central government, as well as various Wellington organisations and businesses who watched a cross party representation in Wellington’s Public Trust Hall at Future Proofing New Zealand: The 2050 Local Government Forum, sponsored by Aurecon.

Among them were former MP and Wellington mayoral candidate Andrew Little, former MP Gareth Hughes, the mayors of Porirua - Anita Baker, Lower Hutt - Campbell Barry and Upper Hutt - Wayne Guppy, as well as councillor and Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung, Greater Wellington Regional councillor Thomas Nash and Green MP Julie Anne Genter.

Jones said there was a remit that they were taking to NZ First that after the RMA changes, “what is the point of regional government?”

The party also had another remit for its policy proposal platform to split up the Department of Conservation, “because Doc itself is a major impediment to infrastructure development through the Wildlife Act, I want all of that gone”.

Earlier, Jones also said it had been his experience “that for a lot of climate-orientated projects, it's been devilishly hard to get local government to permit or consent them in a reasonable period of time”.

In regards to scrapping regional councils, Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Daran Ponter said “Shane knows that he's about a little bit of bluster there”.

'I can understand that central government politicians get frustrated at times with having local government presented to them in two systems, regional sector and local sector. But Shane also fully knows that beyond the RMA, regional councils play significant functions in the community, not least of which is flood control in a lot of rural communities.“

Ponter said the question he was left with after those comments was, “is getting rid of regional councils shorthand form of saying we need amalgamation?

'If it is, then I agree with him. We have too many local authorities in New Zealand, and we do need to consolidate.“

“... We are not going to forcibly amalgamate, but where communities identify that it is a path they want to head down, we will look to support them,” Labour’s Tangi Utikere told the forum.

He said there needed to be a conversation first.

Labour’s local government spokesperson Tangi Utikere, who spoke earlier in the evening, took a jab at the announcement on Wednesday morning giving Housing Minister Christopher Bishop new powers to intervene in local council plans, allowing him to modify or change plans that work against economic growth, development or employment.

Utikere said it was “quite an affront to the localism frame that we hear from the Government”.

He was asked by MC Andrea Vance, The Post national affairs editor, if local body amalgamation was a policy that he might consider at the next election.

“What we have said very clearly is that we won't force an amalgamation on communities,” he said.

“…We are not going to forcibly amalgamate, but where communities identify that it is a path they want to head down, we will look to support them.”

Acting Prime Minister David Seymour was the opening speaker, questioning whether programmes such as cooking classes held at libraries was a good use of ratepayer funding, compared to adequate sewerage facilities.

Seymour said there were “a lot of ways that we can be better when it comes to the diversity of revenue sources”.

“We need to think more carefully about the purpose of local government, not being a competitor for the private sector or doing things that are frankly, fanciful, and finally, we need to give councils the same regulatory relief and reduce costs for many other sectors of the economy.

“I believe resource management reform that the Government has delivering will be a massive boom for councils will allow them to deliver faster for lower costs, and that is one of the things that will make a real difference.”