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Scoop
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Mediawatch: Ministers' 'Helpful' Handouts Go Multimedia
, Mediawatch Presenter "Dear Prime Minister: the rise in crime and antisocial behaviour since COVID 19 struck is stark and confronting. We ask that you please take urgent action to support recovery and retain our reputation as a safe city and country." That was the message of a full-page ad in the Weekend Herald placed by groups representing Auckland businesses, accusing the government of failing to act on past promises. It was almost identical to a similar plea to a previous PM four years ago. The following day the current PM was the target of another open letter advert in the Sunday papers. This one - placed by electricity retailers, users and Consumer NZ - called on him to fix "a broken energy sector". That campaign also featured on TVNZ's Q+A show the same day, and in a front-page New Zealand Herald story the next day, the Minister of Energy - the aptly named Simon Watts - acknowledged our electricity market was "not functioning as well as it should". But it's not the first time that he's been singled out by a lobbying campaign in public. In June, pro-electrification group Rewiring NZ deployed AI animation to turn him into a superhero in ads that urged the public to make it an election issue - and it used a billboard near the Beehive to make sure that he didn't miss it. TVNZ's Q+A said lobby groups like Federated Farmers and the Sensible Sentencing Trust had used the same spot for the same reason in other campaigns. But do ministers targeted by these ads even notice them? "Yes, I do. On the way to the airport, out of Parliament and down onto the quays there - it's pretty hard to not to," National's Chris Bishop told TVNZ's Whena Owen. But are campaigns singling out individual politicians in public really effective? Most ministers are also lobbied behind the scenes by the same special interest groups. Being hectored publicly as well could make them more inclined to dig in rather than give in. "Lobby groups have always taken out ads in newspapers. Now they're moving it to digital billboards which can be up longer and can be cheaper," said Dr Claire Robinson, the author of Promises, Promises: 80 years of Wooing New Zealand Voters. "They can be located at traffic lights where ministerial cars have to stop. It's probably a really good way of getting something under the nose of a cabinet minister who may not open the newspaper anymore in the morning to see it there." "If you want to lobby a minister now you've got not only print, radio and TV - and you've got your own channels, social media and even LinkedIn posts. There's a complete industry in being able to disseminate your messages, hoping that one of them is going to get through," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. Politicians going multimedia Politicians aren't shy about getting their own messages out to the media either - and have specialised staff to do it. Journalists' email inboxes are clogged with media statements from ministers and MPs hoping that their comments will make it into the media's coverage. And now they are going multimedia too. Last weekend reporters got video of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greeting Winston Peters, along with a media statement, after an ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Malaysia, which was attended by Peters. NZ First posted that footage on Facebook on the day of the meeting - and then there was another version last Tuesday featuring Peters looking statesmanlike, with a TikTok-type soundtrack added. The same day the streaming show Herald Now ran the Rubio footage during an interview with Peters. Should media be wary of airing images hand-picked by ministers' staff? "Yes, because by using it they're essentially using party generated pictures and feeding the beast - and exacerbating the rule-breaking of political parties," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. "Anything that is generated through party social media channels really needs to be stopped at the door. "But at the same time the media loses all perspective when a PM or foreign minister meets a US president or Secretary of State. In 2014, photos of John Key playing golf with Obama were splashed across the newspapers . . . and nobody asked who took the photos back then." MPs offering mp3s Recently reporters have also received sound bites from ministers along with standard media statements. Last week, Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee announced anti-money laundering law changes to make managing property easier through family trusts. The release included a minute-long MP3 clip of her reading out some of the key points - and 'video on request'. In June her office also sent three separate sound bites about the 'Three Strikes' law coming into force. Why send selected comments rather than allow reporters to record their own in a media conference in the usual way? "Quite often we'll put out a media release, then we get all the phone calls looking for a grab. Why not give a grab ourselves?" McKee told Mediawatch. RNZ's reporters in the press gallery in Parliament told Mediawatch they wouldn't use audio supplied under those circumstances. "I believe it has been picked up by a couple of radio stations but I haven't actually tracked it myself." ACT leader David Seymour has spoken about bypassing the media because they "abuse their power to edit" and refused to allow ACT's ministers to appear on RNZ's Morning Report. He's even appealed for funds from ACT supporters to fund his own online media channels. Is McKee supplying audio comments as a substitute for interviews or media conferences at which she could be challenged or questioned by reporters? "That's not the reason. It's actually realising that our media are quite stretched - for time and for people," McKee told Mediawatch. On that issue of the family trusts and anti-money laundering laws, McKee was interviewed by RNZ news after sending out the statement and audio. "I've always made myself available to the media. Should they want a sound grab directly, I'm happy to give it. We just thought that this would help the media, especially if they do have those tight deadlines. And of course some have less staff now." "It doesn't take me long to add a couple of 10-second sound bites to the media releases we put out. And of course if it is being picked up then it is useful to some. So we'll continue to do it." McKee says she hasn't tracked which media outlets have used the supplied audio. Another minister handing out sound bites with media statements lately is Associate Minister of Transport James Meager. "Now is the perfect time to look ahead toward building a resilient maritime economy for future generations," he said in mid-June, announcing pumped-up investment in navigation services for shipping. One week later, Meager sent out three more sound bites, about a funding boost for lifesaving. Meager credits his press secretary, former Newstalk ZB journalist Blake Benny. "He came to me with the idea that if we include some audio grabs with our press releases, it makes the job of producers and radio reporters so much easier," Meager told Mediawatch. If so, it might mean not having to answer questions about contestable claims made in statements - or confront contradictions? "There's always the option for journalists who want to ring up and press on some of the details in those press releases. I'm always happy to take interviews. The only time I decline would be if it's outside my portfolio or if I literally can't do them." Few ministers ever issue statements on matters outside their portfolio - and Meager declined to say which outlets had broadcast his recorded statements. More to come? Before he became an MP, he set up an online archive of political ads - - with partner Dr Ashley Murchison, an expert who wrote a PhD about responses to political ads. Some of Nicole McKee's recent media statements said video was available on request as well. Meager doesn't offer that - yet. "But if we had the resources and that made people's lives easier then it might be something that we look into. I used to work as a press secretary and I think I wish I'd been smart enough to think of this six years ago," he told Mediawatch. But he says he and other ministers will be offering the media more multimedia stuff in future. "I'm doing a couple (of soundbites) this weekend for a couple of announcements we're making in the top of the South so hopefully they'll be picked up. In the weekend when staffing levels are lower, that might be a little bit helpful too." Exploiting a week spot "Political parties have always used new technology to try and get their messages across - even going back to Michael Joseph Savage in 1938 when he used film, which was a new technology back then," Dr Claire Robinson told Mediawatch. "I think that the politicians hope that the time-poor media will just insert (the content) into coverage. But there's something deeper going on here because they're exploiting the whopping decline in journalism employment," said Dr Robinson, who is also the current chief of Toi Mai / the Workforce Development Council, which published a development plan for journalism in 2024. "That decline is because of government-enabled inaction or policies that have seen that advertising money that used to sustain news media organisations go offshore. In the old days (they) would have more scrutiny and political parties are now exploiting that gap and creating their own media." Bending the rules for funding the ads In a recent piece for The Post, Dr Robinson said the public pays for political parties' digital media messaging - but shouldn't be paying for some of it. "The rules are really clear. You can only electioneer using public funds in the three months prior to an election campaign. The rest of the time parties are enabled to create information, but not to electioneer with social media," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. She says the NZ First party publishing footage of Winston Peters in Malaysia as foreign minister on social media is an example of the problem. "It has their party logo and is using Peters' role in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs for party purposes. It doesn't say 'Vote for NZ First' but the boundaries are blurred. It is really saying our leader is a great leader because he can create amazing relationships with people."
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Mediawatch: Ministers' 'helpful' handouts go multimedia
A strategically placed billboard that was part of a lobbying campaign targeting energy minister Simon Watts, captured by TVNZ's Q+A. Photo: TVNZ Q+A "Dear Prime Minister: the rise in crime and antisocial behaviour since COVID 19 struck is stark and confronting. We ask that you please take urgent action to support recovery and retain our reputation as a safe city and country." That was the message of a full-page ad in the Weekend Herald placed by groups representing Auckland businesses, accusing the government of failing to act on past promises. It was almost identical to a similar plea to a previous PM four years ago. The following day the current PM was the target of another open letter advert in the Sunday papers. This one - placed by electricity retailers, users and Consumer NZ - called on him to fix "a broken energy sector". That campaign also featured on TVNZ's Q+A show the same day, and in a front-page New Zealand Herald story the next day, the Minister of Energy - the aptly named Simon Watts - acknowledged our electricity market was "not functioning as well as it should". But it's not the first time that he's been singled out by a lobbying campaign in public. In June, pro-electrification group Rewiring NZ deployed AI animation to turn him into a superhero in ads that urged the public to make it an election issue - and it used a billboard near the Beehive to make sure that he didn't miss it. TVNZ's Q+A said lobby groups like Federated Farmers and the Sensible Sentencing Trust had used the same spot for the same reason in other campaigns. But do ministers targeted by these ads even notice them? "Yes, I do. On the way to the airport, out of Parliament and down onto the quays there - it's pretty hard to not to," National's Chris Bishop told TVNZ's Whena Owen. But are campaigns singling out individual politicians in public really effective? Most ministers are also lobbied behind the scenes by the same special interest groups. Being hectored publicly as well could make them more inclined to dig in rather than give in. "Lobby groups have always taken out ads in newspapers. Now they're moving it to digital billboards which can be up longer and can be cheaper," said Dr Claire Robinson, the author of Promises, Promises: 80 years of Wooing New Zealand Voters . "They can be located at traffic lights where ministerial cars have to stop. It's probably a really good way of getting something under the nose of a cabinet minister who may not open the newspaper anymore in the morning to see it there." "If you want to lobby a minister now you've got not only print, radio and TV - and you've got your own channels, social media and even LinkedIn posts. There's a complete industry in being able to disseminate your messages, hoping that one of them is going to get through," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch . Politicians aren't shy about getting their own messages out to the media either - and have specialised staff to do it. Journalists' email inboxes are clogged with media statements from ministers and MPs hoping that their comments will make it into the media's coverage. And now they are going multimedia too. Last weekend reporters got video of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greeting Winston Peters, along with a media statement, after an ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Malaysia, which was attended by Peters. NZ First posted that footage on Facebook on the day of the meeting - and then there was another version last Tuesday featuring Peters looking statesmanlike, with a TikTok-type soundtrack added. The same day the streaming show Herald Now ran the Rubio footage during an interview with Peters . Should media be wary of airing images hand-picked by ministers' staff? "Yes, because by using it they're essentially using party generated pictures and feeding the beast - and exacerbating the rule-breaking of political parties," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. "Anything that is generated through party social media channels really needs to be stopped at the door. "But at the same time the media loses all perspective when a PM or foreign minister meets a US president or Secretary of State. In 2014, photos of John Key playing golf with Obama were splashed across the newspapers . . . and nobody asked who took the photos back then." Recently reporters have also received sound bites from ministers along with standard media statements. Last week, Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee announced anti-money laundering law changes to make managing property easier through family trusts. The release included a minute-long MP3 clip of her reading out some of the key points - and 'video on request'. In June her office also sent three separate sound bites about the 'Three Strikes' law coming into force. Why send selected comments rather than allow reporters to record their own in a media conference in the usual way? "Quite often we'll put out a media release, then we get all the phone calls looking for a grab. Why not give a grab ourselves?" McKee told Mediawatch . RNZ's reporters in the press gallery in Parliament told Mediawatch they wouldn't use audio supplied under those circumstances. "I believe it has been picked up by a couple of radio stations but I haven't actually tracked it myself." ACT leader David Seymour has spoken about bypassing the media because they "abuse their power to edit" and refused to allow ACT's ministers to appear on RNZ's Morning Report . He's even appealed for funds from ACT supporters to fund his own online media channels. Is McKee supplying audio comments as a substitute for interviews or media conferences at which she could be challenged or questioned by reporters? "That's not the reason. It's actually realising that our media are quite stretched - for time and for people," McKee told Mediawatch . On that issue of the family trusts and anti-money laundering laws, McKee was interviewed by RNZ news after sending out the statement and audio. "I've always made myself available to the media. Should they want a sound grab directly, I'm happy to give it. We just thought that this would help the media, especially if they do have those tight deadlines. And of course some have less staff now." "It doesn't take me long to add a couple of 10-second sound bites to the media releases we put out. And of course if it is being picked up then it is useful to some. So we'll continue to do it." McKee says she hasn't tracked which media outlets have used the supplied audio. Another minister handing out sound bites with media statements lately is Associate Minister of Transport James Meager. "Now is the perfect time to look ahead toward building a resilient maritime economy for future generations," he said in mid-June, announcing pumped-up investment in navigation services for shipping. One week later, Meager sent out three more sound bites, about a funding boost for lifesaving. Meager credits his press secretary, former Newstalk ZB journalist Blake Benny. "He came to me with the idea that if we include some audio grabs with our press releases, it makes the job of producers and radio reporters so much easier," Meager told Mediawatch . If so, it might mean not having to answer questions about contestable claims made in statements - or confront contradictions? "There's always the option for journalists who want to ring up and press on some of the details in those press releases. I'm always happy to take interviews. The only time I decline would be if it's outside my portfolio or if I literally can't do them." Few ministers ever issue statements on matters outside their portfolio - and Meager declined to say which outlets had broadcast his recorded statements. Before he became an MP, he set up an online archive of political ads - - with partner Dr Ashley Murchison, an expert who wrote a PhD about responses to political ads. Some of Nicole McKee's recent media statements said video was available on request as well. Meager doesn't offer that - yet. "But if we had the resources and that made people's lives easier then it might be something that we look into. I used to work as a press secretary and I think I wish I'd been smart enough to think of this six years ago," he told Mediawatch . But he says he and other ministers will be offering the media more multimedia stuff in future. "I'm doing a couple (of soundbites) this weekend for a couple of announcements we're making in the top of the South so hopefully they'll be picked up. In the weekend when staffing levels are lower, that might be a little bit helpful too." Dr Claire Robinson Photo: supplied "Political parties have always used new technology to try and get their messages across - even going back to Michael Joseph Savage in 1938 when he used film, which was a new technology back then," Dr Claire Robinson told Mediawatch . "I think that the politicians hope that the time-poor media will just insert (the content) into coverage. But there's something deeper going on here because they're exploiting the whopping decline in journalism employment," said Dr Robinson, who is also the current chief of Toi Mai / the Workforce Development Council, which published a development plan for journalism in 2024. "That decline is because of government-enabled inaction or policies that have seen that advertising money that used to sustain news media organisations go offshore. In the old days (they) would have more scrutiny and political parties are now exploiting that gap and creating their own media." In a recent piece for The Post , Dr Robinson said the public pays for political parties' digital media messaging - but shouldn't be paying for some of it. "The rules are really clear. You can only electioneer using public funds in the three months prior to an election campaign. The rest of the time parties are enabled to create information, but not to electioneer with social media," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch . She says the NZ First party publishing footage of Winston Peters in Malaysia as foreign minister on social media is an example of the problem. "It has their party logo and is using Peters' role in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs for party purposes. It doesn't say 'Vote for NZ First' but the boundaries are blurred. It is really saying our leader is a great leader because he can create amazing relationships with people." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
The tension between central and local government bubbles to the surface
Local government says it needs certainty from central government beyond election cycles. Central government says local government is wasting money on unnecessary projects. Who's right? Simon Watts, minister for local government, has kids. He's learned that when you give them a full day free to do whatever they want, they might 'make some bad choices'. But give them five options, and they can pick the one they want to do. He's on stage at SuperLocal, Local Government New Zealand's annual conference in Christchurch, answering a question about the government's move to stop 'wellbeing' and 'the environment' being part of councils' remit. 'People don't have an appetite for nice-to-haves,' he says. 'You weren't elected to make easy decisions, you were elected to make difficult decisions. The best thing I can do is to help you on that journey.' Broadcaster Miriama Kamo, hosting the discussion, pointed out that some local government members might not appreciate the metaphor. 'That's a bit patronising, mate,' someone yelled from the audience. At SuperLocal, the tension between central government and local government is nearly palpable. A brief, videoed address from Christopher Luxon is met with about three people applauding. With RMA reform and a potential rates cap on the agenda, the government is saying that councils are spending too much money on unnecessary projects. Councils are saying that actually, they are focusing on basics – and ever-changing directions from central government is a waste of their resources. Chris Bishop, the minister for RMA reform, addressed attendees at a plenary session. 'Ratepayers don't care what Greenstar rating your new council facilities have or whether some international architectural body thinks your latest build is pretty or not. The only awards your projects should be winning are for cost efficiency and effectiveness,' he said. There was an audible groan somewhere in the room. He kept going, talking fast to get through his speech, saying that councils needed to be better at planning for housing growth and that the government needed to make this easier. He promised two bills by November: one to replace the development contributions system so that developers pay more for infrastructure their new housing will require, and another to fund infrastructure development. Bishop's key announcement was also aimed at council efficiency: with whatever replaces the RMA on the way, he is removing (in most cases) the requirement for councils to take the RMA into account when making their plans. 'Plans completed under the RMA may be incompatible with the new system,' he said. Most plan changes will have to wait until the new system is in place, although particularly urgent changes, or changes related to Treaty settlements or natural hazards, will be exempt. 'Minister Bishop's announcements today were really good for local government to hear, with some certainty about where the RMA is going, [and] the timeframes around when we're going to hear further announcements,' said Sam Broughton, Selwyn District mayor and president of Local Government New Zealand, at a press conference afterwards. On the whole, though, local government is frustrated, because they feel that they're not using their budgets on 'nice to haves'. 'If I use my council as an example, 80% of our spend is on water pipes, wastewater pipes and transport systems. So the other 20%, you've got to include your recycling, your rubbish, your pools, the things that actually communities still think are essential.' To Broughton, and local government in general, changing directives from central government make it hard to plan long term, making councils more inefficient and wasting resources. 'Every time we have an election, there's a flip-flop, and it's just a distraction from us getting on with the work,' he said. One government wants wellbeing and environment to be part of plans; the next doesn't. One government wants to overhaul the RMA in one way; the next wants to overhaul the RMA in another way. 'We need ways of doing things so changes of government don't rip up previous governments' work – a pipeline of work that is agreed cross-party,' Broughton said. To prevent what he sees as wasteful council spending, the government is investigating legislation that would cap how much rates can rise, said Watts. 'It has to achieve the outcome that we're looking for.' The giant Taxpayers' Union truck parked outside the Te Pae conference centre emblazoned with pictures of mayors and how much rates have increased in their regions is a reminder of vested interests in this issue. But linking rates to household inflation doesn't make sense, Broughton said; much of what councils spend money on isn't in the CPI basket. 'Rates capping itself is actually a discussion about who makes decisions locally about what's delivered. Is it central government? Is it more power to Wellington?' Broughton said, mentioning that New Zealand is one of the most centralised countries in the OECD, with central government controlling the vast majority of government spending. Part of Wednesday's conference session was the release of an LGNZ-commissioned report quantifying local government's economic contributions: $20.1 billion operational and capital expenditure, $2.2bn in public administration and $500 million in long-term productivity gains. 'There's some basic things that councils have to get involved in because central government isn't stepping up to fit the needs of local communities,' said Broughton. His council is funding a health centre, because many people in Selwyn have to leave the district to go to the doctor. While there's certainly tension between central and local government, there's also a desire to get things done. Broughton was asked about Simon Watts' 'kids' comment at the stand-up. 'I think people like to play politics around language,' he said. 'But Minister Watts has also said he wants a situation where we sit around the table as adults. Councils get elected locally to think about what's in the best interest of their local community. And that is really hard work that requires mature minds.'
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
'Councils have lacked fiscal discipline' Local Government Minister says
Local Government Minister Simon Watts says the bill is all about reining in costs. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Legislation making changes for councils has passed its first reading overnight, coinciding with this year's local government conference in Christchurch. The Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill was introduced this week, and passed its first reading on Thursday evening. It removes the 'four wellbeings' - social, economic, environmental and cultural - from councils' purpose and imposes a series of mandatory requirements. Councils will need to prioritise core services in spending, carry out extra financial reporting and transparency and accountability reporting, and disclose all contractor and consultant spending. It also makes some minor regulatory tweaks, like allowing acting or interim chief executives to sign compliance certificates and extending council chief executives' second term from two years to five. Local Government Minister Simon Watts said the bill is all about reining in costs . "Councils have lacked fiscal discipline and spent far too much on the things that most people do not consider core activities of local government," he said in his first reading speech. However, it seems somewhat at odds with the government's view of the main source of rates rises, laid out in the bill's explanatory note. "Rates rises are being driven primarily by rising council costs , particularly for critical infrastructure. However, the government is concerned that rates rises are being exacerbated by a lack of fiscal discipline among councils," it said. The coaliton partners were both offering full-throated support. ACT's Cameron Luxton said the bill sent a clear message. "Councils are not mini-parliaments; they are service delivery agencies. Their job is to manage infrastructure and keep communities running, and doing it while delivering value for money. When they deviate from that, and waste ratepayers' money, they increase the cost of living on all of us," he said. ACT MP Cameron Luxton. Photo: Parliament TV After arguing that transparency needed to be improved, he concluded that "democracy matters". "If you want a say in how local money is spent, you should get elected, and this bill is working to fix that direction in New Zealand." Former Wellington mayor Andy Foster - now an NZ First MP - said ratepayers' priorities have changed in the last three years. "I had 30 years on a council. Generally speaking, what we heard from is people saying 'we want more services, more services, more services'. "For the last three years we've started to hear people say in increasing numbers 'we are concerned about our rates, we are really hurting' - and people are really now afraid. They're finding it difficult to actually pay the rates and they're concerned they may not be able to stay in their own homes." Opposition parties were all opposed. Labour's Camilla Belich highlighted the "deep irony" of National championing a bill she said would end up "snatching control off democratically elected councils". "What this bill says is: Wellington knows best, Wellington knows your community better than you, and the government is going to step in and tell your council what to do. It's a degradation of the rights of democratically elected councils," she said. The irony, she said, was because National was "the same party that railed against Three Waters and the decisions that the Labour government was making in order to save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars". Labour MP Camilla Belich. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Watts' speech had laid out that the bill would enable a code of conduct and rules for councils to be "set centrally rather than on an ad hoc individual council basis". "This will provide greater certainty and greater consistency about behavioural standards across local government, reduce costs for councils, and ensure councillors are fully informed to make decisions," he said. The rhetoric did seem a departure from his 2022 approach to Three Waters in opposition, where he said "the challenge is: is a top-down or centralised approach ... the right model? We don't believe it is". However, Watts told RNZ the feedback on the bill from mayors had been positive. "Quite a lot of positive feedback from mayors," he said. "In one way, by defining exactly what they must do means they can now have a conversation about the activities that aren't on that list, and at the moment they can't because pretty much everything fits into the wellbeing [provisions]. Overall, pretty positive. The regulatory and the relief changes in the bill take work off them and that takes cost away from them as well, so that's positive. "Look, it's a challenging time in local government, we get that - there's a lot of reform underway, Local Water Done Well's well in train - but overall, I enjoyed my yesterday." The previous day, Watts had been in Christchurch at the annual Local Government New Zealand conference. Mayors at the conference had a range of views on the wellbeing provisions and whether the bill would be effective. Far North mayor Moko Tepania pointed to the one wellbeing initiative on the council's books - a $300,000 fund for its three community boards that enabled community groups, businesses, school groups and the like to "do cool stuff in our rohe". "That's 0.001 percent of the total operating revenue that we're putting into wellbeing initiatives. I actually think it's probably not enough money." He said the legislation was unlikely to change much, saying councils were already spending their money on core services and the government was simply rebranding "wellbeing" as "infrastructure". Moko Tepania (Ngāpuhi), Far North mayor. Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ Central Otago mayor Tamah Alley agreed, saying their rates rise this year was 18.4 percent, 95 percent of which was for core services. "We're having our communities tell us what they think are core services ... they've said museums are core services, community halls are core services, libraries are core services, they want to see some of the arts things that happen in our communities. "I'm not sure where they think this 'over and above' spending is going. In Central Otago we don't have a lot of nice to haves ... and most of them, people are saying that's what makes living here so great." South Waikato mayor Hamish Daine said the wellbeings had led to rates rises, but "those wellbeing are actually what's lifted the community and actually built what our community's all about". Clutha's mayor Bryan Cadogan was confident the wellbeings had not led to rates rises. "No. It's actually the wellbeings are just bread and butter. They're the strings that tie a community together and it's just inconceivable to me as leaders how we take that out of our community. Yeah, sure we've got a responsibility for the bricks and mortar - I get that - and at the moment we have absolutely no choice. "We're ticking over 90 percent roads, water, and rubbish, over 90 percent. So the very little that's left is meant to hold the community together ... for years our facilities were allowed to get old, and society paid. The connection of the community and the spirit and the wanting to live there and seeing a future in the town. People turned their back and left, so you turn your back on the four wellbeings at your peril, long term." Labour leader Chris Hipkins says "flip-flopping" is not good for councils. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Labour's leader Chris Hipkins supported the wellbeing provisions but not enough to bring them back if Labour wins power. "We did return them to government previously, I guess the one hesitation I would say there is the flip-flopping's not good for councils ... so I do think we need to have a broader conversation as a country about what we want our local councils to do." The bill will now face public scrutiny at select committee, which reports back in November. Meanwhile, Minister Watts wants a cap on rates rises in place by Christmas - although the other coalition parties have cast doubt on the idea . Councils have long complained about their inability to raise revenue that doesn't rely on rates - like a bed tax, or fees for tourists using toilets - but the government is not open to making changes which could allow that. Ministers have previously said it's not a priority, and Watts this week said he had made clear the government will not support new taxes and revenue tools. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Brit on 14,000 cycle across world trained by working for Deliveroo
A Brit has set off on an epic 14,000 cycle across the world after training for it by working as a food delivery cyclist. Simon Watts, 31, is pedalling to Sydney, Australia from his hometown of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on his trusty steel-framed bike 'Hendo', named after his hometown delicacy, Henderson's Relish. The hospitality worker had signed up to delivery apps including Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat to train for the trip and had spent just €15 on accommodation in nine different countries. After setting off on May 8, Simon reached Turkey after 30 days, where he is currently resting. He said: 'My first day was Sheffield to Manchester and my bike was so heavy the front wheel was uncontrollably wobbling. 'At my friend's house I had a moment of panic and ditched everything that I deemed to not be essential. 'I think the cycling has been the easiest part, in reality. The biggest challenges were adapting to a different way of life. 'I've done a few bike tours before, but nothing of this scale where I've carried so much stuff.' Simon has already powered through wet weather, strong headwinds, and a minor crash in Bulgaria – where he injured his knee. A scary encounter with barking shepherd dogs in Romania led to one of Simon's friends giving him a can of pepper spray to defend himself in the more remote regions. Donation link:
