Submission: The Local Government(Systems Improvements) Amendment Bill
Collective wellbeing is at the heart of what our councils and local boards are there for.
We are pleased to share our submission on The Local Government (Systems Improvements) Amendment Bill.
The key points of our submission are:
We are opposed to the main purpose of this bill to remove ‘the four wellbeings’ from the Local Government Act. We are disappointed to see the wellbeings repealed.
We believe we need long-term, bipartisan agreement on the purpose of local government, not another round of wasteful flip-flopping.
Substantive points
The wellbeings — social, economic, environmental, and cultural — were added in 2002 by Labour, removed in 2012 by National, added back in 2019 by Labour, and are now to be removed again.
It’s frustrating that so much parliamentary time has been spent adding words and then deleting them, but the fact of the matter is you can take the word “wellbeing” out of legislation but you can’t take wellbeing out of local government. Collective wellbeing is at the heart of what our councils and local boards are there for.
The reality is if the wellbeings are once again removed from the act, councils will do wellbeing work anyway because this is at the heart of what it means to work for communities. Central government isn’t going to build parks, playgrounds or pools, and it is not going to drive local economic development. Only local governments can do that because they are closest to their citizens.
We note the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) advised the “...proposed changes, when considered in isolation, are unlikely to benefit communities more than the status quo. This would largely reflect evidence that changes to the purpose of local government in the past have not resulted in significant changes to council activities or service levels.”
We also note the DIA RIS summarised from the Future for Local Government report, and departmental feedback from agencies such as the Infrastructure Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development that “...suggested that removing the four wellbeings could be seen as disempowering local government and while focusing councils on low rates may succeed, it would likely come at the expense of key council services and infrastructure development.“
WEAll Aotearoa Research Economist Dr Paul Dalziel noting decades of research says “Local government is one of the most important institutions our species has created for expanding human wellbeing.”
Local government is more than just ‘roads, rates, rats and rubbish’ — it plays a key role in building local economies and is uniquely positioned to foster local resiliency and wellbeing in our communities. It’s in the parks we walk through, the water we drink, the pools we take our kids to, the buses we ride, and yes, even the rubbish and recycling we put out on the street.
There are many systemic challenges facing the local government sector that are crying out for leadership — from funding models to the number of councils.
For years, successive governments have piled obligations on councils without additional funding and now ministers are threatening to cap rates and remove their purpose.
WEAll Aotearoa notes the Office of the Auditor-General found between 2013 and 2023, councils underfunded water renewals by more than $7 billion. Previous decisions to defer maintenance to keep rates artificially low has ultimately led to higher costs in the future.
New Zealand has one of the most highly centralised systems of government compared to other OECD countries and if ministers want to enable councils to “focus on the essentials and deliver value for communities” – as Local Government Minister Simon Watts has said – they should focus on fixing the broken funding model.
WEAll Aotearoa supports good policies like returning a portion of GST to the regions – advocated for by NZ First and ACT parties — and would like to see them expedited. Returning GST charged on rates back to councils could return $1.1b to support investments and potentially lower the rates burden, according to Infometrics’ Brad Olsen.
Despite this creaking funding model councils are getting on with it. Fantastic work is happening every day across Aotearoa improving local prosperity, resilience and wellbeing.
In July 2025, WEAll Aotearoa published a new report that reaffirms the vital role of local councils as stewards of public good. The guide, Policy for the Public Good: A Local Government Resource Guide, shares 100 common-sense, evidence-based policies for local councils, along with 80 real-world case studies of these working.
The case studies range from neighbourhood parks and infrastructure, to nature-based solutions and community engagement. For example, the power to grow hundreds of local jobs through social procurement processes while saving operational funding through efficient design at the award winning Te Ngaengae Pool and Fitness Centre led by Hutt City Council.
Crumbling infrastructure, unaffordable housing, extreme weather and cost of living crises are the challenges we need our councils to confront, challenges which people are feeling the effects of every day. A diminished role for local government will see us collectively worse off, both in terms of the economy and wellbeing.
WEAll Aotearoa urges the committee to focus on building long-term political agreement on the purpose of local government.
Summary of Recommendations
We are opposed to the main purpose of this bill to remove the ‘the four wellbeings’ from the Local Government Act.
WEAll Aotearoa appreciates the opportunity to make a submission and requests
an opportunity to submit orally. We would be happy to answer any questions
about any aspect of our submission.
