Auckland Council quits LGNZ

Stuff reports:

Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown has used his casting vote for the first time, pulling Auckland Council out of the sector group Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).

Brown had called for a review of the council’s membership, which costs around $400,000 a year in membership and conference costs, and spoke disparagingly of its value.

LGNZ only really have themselves to blame with their disastrous decision to take money from the Government in return for not opposing the Three Waters reforms. They are meant to be the organisation that lobbies the Government on behalf of Councils, but instead they seemed to be lobbying the Councils on behalf of Government.

This would be like say the Council of Trade Unions taking a cheque from a National Government in return for not opposing the Employment Contracts Act. No one would be surprised in such a scenario that member unions would quit.

If LGNZ wants to regain the largest Council in NZ as a member, they need to do a mea culpa over their Three Waters agreement with the Government, and agree to never ever sell out their members again.