Wellbeing Waikato has submitted to all territorial authorities in the Waikato region regarding their response to the government's Head Start programme.
The programme has invited councils to submit different amalgamation options for unitary authorities across the Waikato and New Zealand. Councils that don't submit proposals would enter a 'Back Stop' process where the government decides on a future model instead.
At present, all councils in the region are consulting on different model options (essentially different merger combinations of existing councils). Wellbeing Waikato commends all councils for the work being done and the invitation for people to submit their ideas. We agree with the government that the case for change in local government is beyond question. The current model is indeed “too complex, too costly, and too hard to navigate.”
But we note that care is needed at all levels to make sure that, in the rush to fix things, the cure is not worser than the disease. Focusing on structure alone is likely to at best lead to no material improvement in the things that really matter, and at worst be a massive waste of resources and time. The available evidence does not support the view that structural consolidation alone will resolve the challenges facing local government. Performance improvements are driven primarily by leadership, clarity of purpose, organisational capability, and alignment with community outcomes—not by organisational size alone.
To put it bluntly- any structure can work if the underlying motivations and conditions for it are right. Similarly, the best restructure on paper will fail if they are not.
