Council quits Local Government New Zealand calling it 'far left'

Western Bay of Plenty District Council is the latest council to leave national advocacy body Local Government New Zealand.

There were claims LGNZ had become "extremely political", had swung "far left" and lacked professionalism.

Those in support of staying said LGNZ advocated for the sector and provided professional development and mental health support for councillors.

Other councils that have left LGNZ include: Christchurch City, Auckland, West Coast Regional, Grey, Kaipara and Westland District.

Western Bay councillors debated the decision to resign for more than an hour at a meeting on Tuesday.

The decision to end the council's LGNZ membership passed by majority vote, six to five.

Councillor Tracey Coxhead brought the motion to council because she believed LGNZ needed to "re-evaluate itself" and was "not committed to being under a new government".

The organisation's job was to represent local government to central government to obtain the best outcomes and provide professional guidance and upskilling, Coxhead said.

"Its focus is on education and professionalism. I feel that professionalism is lacking from LGNZ."

LGNZ needed to be non-partisan and, in her view, presentations at its 2024 conference were "largely, although not entirely, pushing a certain agenda, for example, only one narrative on climate change".

"LGNZ is ignoring the sentiment of a large proportion of the membership."

Six of LGNZ's 18 submissions in the past year did not represent her views, Coxhead said.

LGNZ president Sam Broughton, who attended the meeting online, said before it sent submissions to the government they were sent to mayors and chief executives, and councillors could also have input.

Like any membership body, it had to make decisions based on majority support, he said.

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge claimed LGNZ had "swung so far left" it was no longer a fair and open environment where decisions represented local councillors' beliefs.

She said the council could advocate directly to the government through local MPs.

It is not the first time the council has debated its LGNZ membership.

Murray-Benge's attempt to have it leave LGNZ in 2022 was voted down. Coxhead, then not a councillor, spoke at that meeting in support of leaving.

Councillor Allan Sole, who voted to leave in 2022, said at Tuesday's meeting he was a "staunch supporter" of the organisation but was not satisfied with where it was now.

"I have certainly seen it become extremely political, which I hadn't seen previously."

Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour said the council needed to be careful not to make life "unnecessarily hard" for itself.

It was better to work together with LGNZ rather than "trying to stand alone and wing it on your own", he said.

Mayor James Denyer said the council was already "vulnerable to the whims of central government".

"Divided or on our own outside of LGNZ, we have a much-reduced influence and very little voice."

The support the organisation gave elected members was vital and included training and conferences as well as free mental health support, Denyer said.

LGNZ also provided advice and information to help councils with submissions to the government on bills, he said.

"The demands of our jobs are significant, and some people have benefited greatly from the [mental health] support."

Denyer said he believed arguments in favour of leaving LGNZ were "mostly pretty weak".

He said there was a financial gain from being a member.

The council paid a yearly subscription of $80,905 and $30,819 to attend the LGNZ conference.

Denyer said $16,000 of the conference cost was not spent by the council but by community boards.

He had heard LGNZ did not "represent us" or espoused views people did not agree with, but it was a membership organisation.

"The logical conclusion of such an argument is that we are not capable of tolerating political views that differ from our own.

"I would hope that no one around our table is so intolerant of different opinions that we can't share membership of an organisation with those with whom we might disagree."

Councillor Laura Rae said she needed the support she received from LGNZ's Young Elected Members network for councillors under 40.

The council's youngest councillor, she was elected in July after the death of Te Puke councillor Richard Crawford.

The council also discussed at length, that leaving LGNZ would risk losing the $180,000 it could receive for the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs.

LGNZ administered the taskforce fund and the council applied for $180,000 for 2025 to assist 25 young people into employment.

Council chief executive John Holyoake said he was "incredibly confident" the council would receive that funding if it stayed a member.

There was no other means of accessing that funding, he said.

The council's membership will end on 31 March.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.