27 August 2025

OraTaiao is very concerned with the direction this Bill is taking the local government. Local government plays critical roles in human health, and in climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience building. This Bill fails to recognise these roles and, with little analysis, restricts local governments’ ability to deliver on communities’ climate and health needs.

We oppose the drastic narrowing of local government functions as it will put human health, climate resilience, and community wellbeing at serious risk. The Bill undermines councils’ ability to act preventatively, instead seeming to relegate them to crisis response once harms have already occurred. It is fiscally short-sighted and will compound inequities in health and wellbeing.

We are deeply concerned about the ad hoc nature of this and other legislative changes. The Government’s piecemeal approach is creating contradictory requirements and responsibilities for local government, with little or no consideration of human health, climate change, or the immense social and economic costs of climate impacts.

We also note the ongoing and deplorable removal of Te Tiriti provisions from public policy by the current Coalition Government. In this Bill, the removal of the requirement for councils to consider tikanga Māori knowledge when appointing council-controlled organisation directors erodes cultural competence and undermines equity. This will weaken the ability of communities to build enduring resilience and health, and reverses progress towards honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in local decision-making.

This submission covers:

1. The role of local government in health and climate change, and the need for decisions that recognise these intersections.
2. The failure of the proposed “core functions” and their long-term costs.
3. The value of the four wellbeings, and the wasted resources caused by repeated policy reversals.
4. The importance of Te Tiriti in legislation including for local government.

Read our full submission here.