Paula Bennett has turned down the opportunity to back up her words that she wouldn’t force communities to amalgamate.
A Bill was in front of Parliament this week that would return legislation to how it used to be, when a majority of people in each affected council area would need to agree to amalgamation. Effectively, that meant communities could opt out of amalgamation.
Paula Bennett claimed recently at a speech to Local Government New Zealand that wholesale mergers were not the objective, and would only arise where the communities wanted it. She had a chance to prove her sincerity by voting for the Bill. She, and her Government didn’t.
Perhaps the most disappointing vote against the Bill, on the basis of principle, was from ACT’s David Seymour. The liberty-loving party voted against our freedoms.
Paula Bennett gave us no reason to think she’s any more likely to listen to communities than she was last year, when she ignored our pleas to save us from the madmen at the Local Government Commission.
