What happens when politicians no longer trust their officials?
Sunday, 16 June 2024
Andrea Vance is national affairs editor for the Sunday Star-Times and The Post.
OPINION: There is a toxic brew of mistrust in local government.
Burdened with ever-climbing rates bills and dwindling services, residents’ faith in their councils is battered.
The OECD Trust Survey, from 2021, puts trust in local government councillors among the lowest (45%) of public institutions (media was 35% so touché).
This is expressed by apathy. Despite making decisions that affect our everyday lives, voter turnout at local elections continues to decline.
Slowly, the trust between councillors and the officials that serve them is curdling.
Across the country, there is one thing divided councils seem to agree on. The quality of the advice provided to them is now a cause of frustration, disappointment and cynicism.
In Wellington, a succession of poor decisions have been accompanied by a troubling mix of confusion and poor grasp of details by councillors.
That’s not their fault. From the water crisis, to the Town Hall cost blow-out, a reckless Reading Cinema deal, and now the sale of airport shares, councillors were either kept in the dark, asked to withhold information from the public, or provided with one-sided advice.
Worse yet, chief executive Barbara McKerrow, who displays more main character energy than an unelected mandarin really should, has implemented a new set of rules restricting what information the capital’s councils are allowed to request.
Some have finally had enough. Last week, usually compliant left-leaning councillors kicked off about reports cited as evidence for selling the shares. The council’s staff had never considered investigating the alternatives.
They also told councillors a no-sale would leave a $450m hole in the city’s budget, leading to reduced services and hiked rates. That conflicted with earlier documents released to the public which said holding onto the share would have no impact.
The council insists there is no inconsistency.
Councillor Nureddin Abdurahman is not satisfied and has asked the auditor-general to investigate.
The public watchdog is likely to be busy.
Two Auckland councillors have asked the AG to look at a $1.4m payment to Australian consultants asked to furnish them with advice on the hock-off of a stake in their city’s airport.
Mike Lee and John Watson, both opposed to flogging off strategic assets, believe that was an incentive to provide a one-sided view. Auckland Council says it was payment for further work on condition of the sale getting through a vote.
Unlike the Beehive, in local government unelected chief executives hold all the cards. Councillors — especially the squeaky wheels — have no resources or levers.
They are elected believing they can make decisions, but it is officials who run the show by tailoring and drip-feeding advice to assert control. New councillors feel ill-equipped to question what staff put in front of them, and too many of the old hands are institutionalised.
But the foundation of the relationship between politicians and officials is mutual respect and trust.
These public servants are expected to be neutral, give free and frank advice and support open government.
The relationship is based on honesty, openness, and a clear understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities.
But that relationship is skewed. Council employees report to the chief executive, who makes every other hire, signs all the cheques and most critically decides what advice and from which sources is made available to the mayor and councillors.
As a result, those officials are focused on protecting the interests of their employer — the council — not the community.
That is undermining the quality of advice on which councillors are expected to make decisions, and as a result local democracy.
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