This report is about how the right to ‘have a say’ in local government in New Zealand has slowly eroded in recent years. The principle of subsidiarity holds that decisions should be made at the level closest to those affected by them, yet the ability of local communities to have a say in their affairs...

The decision to put the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) on hold in September 2016 demonstrates clearly the strength that local government has as a unified political voice within New Zealand's democracy. In a smilar way to what occured uin 1989 the Bill promoted the Local Government Commission as the protagonist for...

Editorial note: Local government in New Zealand exists within a fairly well-defined narrative. New Zealand is the most centralised nation within the OECD. Central government is by far the dominant partner in the central-local relationship and recent innovations in local government have tended towards further centralisation, such as the amalgamation into Auckland’s Super-City. While there...