With newly elected councils getting down to business, we're seeing Mayors and Chairs start to use some of the powers afforded to them under our local government system. So what are some of the roles and powers of Mayors? Listen and find out ..read more

After life got in the way, Local Aotearoa is back with an unscripted episode of reflections on the recent local government election as well as random thoughts about the challenges ahead of councils in this new triennium ..read more

With the Local Government Commission releasing their determinations on representation arrangements for councils, and Rotorua Lakes Council's proposed representation arrangements needing a law change which has been the subject of intense debate and media coverage, we take a look at both of these issues to see what's going on ..read more

After an extended hiatus, Local Aotearoa is finally back for 2022. To get back into things, we're taking a look at where some of the big issues facing the sector currently are, as well as surveying the current state of mayoral races around the country ahead of October's local government elections ..read more

Since our last episode, there's been a number of significant announcements from Central Government that will have ramifications across local government. These include housing intensification, the Three Waters reform being made mandatory, big transport projects progressing in Auckland and Wellington, and the Review into the Future for Local Government publishing their interim report ..read more

In the second part of Local Aotearoa's look at local government elections, we pivot from putting place the systems needed to hold an election to looking at the election campaign itself ..read more

With just under a year to go until the next local government elections, in this episode (the first of two parts) we take a look at local government elections, start to explore some of the political dynamics at play across the country, how your council organises these elections, and the role of the Local Electoral Act ..read more

In this week's episode we open up the tap on the Three Waters - one of the 'Big Three" reforms currently facing New Zealand's local government sector, with the proposed amalgamation of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services into four large, multi-regional entities. So how did we get here? What's proposed? And what are some of the arguments for and against the proposed reforms ..read more

Welcome to Local Aotearoa, New Zealand’s first podcast dedicated to the world of local government. In the first episode, I introduce myself and give a high level overview of local government in New Zealand including its history, its current structure, roles, and funding, and some of the big reforms facing the sector ..read more