Mike's Minute: The move of the week from the Govt

I think this was the move of the week.  Housing Minister Chris Bishop dropped the bombshell on local body operators that the Government has decided to give him the power to intervene around housing in local body decision making.  Mind you, we could argue scrapping the calamitous Census was a good move, and indeed I'm a massive fan of reporting inflation data on a monthly basis, which sort of makes us look like a first world country. These are all good decisions.  But as regards councils and housing, in the broader interests of this small country finally getting its fiscal act together, this move cannot come soon enough.  The simple truth is we are over councilled. We have ludicrous numbers of local do-gooders in a vast array of fiefdoms making decisions that may, or may not, make any sense locally, far less incorporating themselves into the bigger national picture.  Part of the problem is too often councils have not been up to much. Too many councils are littered with acrimony and in-fighting, progress is stalled, or watered down, or major work is ignored in favour of more headline grabbing material that makes the local representatives look good.  Not all of course, but too many.  From Tauranga, to Wellington, to Christchurch, to Invercargill; the infighting and dysfunction has become legendary.  What you can say about central Government that you can't say about local Government is most of us took part in the democratic process and as a result this Government, rightly or wrongly, has a mandate to get on and do stuff.  Mainly, stuff that got cocked up by the previous Government.  If there has been a constant theme of this current Government, even from its broad-based supporters, it is that they haven't done as much as they might have.  They have plans and ideas and announcements and KPIs. What they don't have is a vast array of results.  They don't have tangible things that have been changed leading to us quite clearly being better off.  With the Bishop announcement it would appear that message and the lack of traction is finally hitting home, and they have sat around the Cabinet table and worked out they have about a year left to put some major runs on the board so that election time is about delivery and not more promises.  The country basically is too small for this many councils and committees. A lot of decisions have major national economic implications and as such, central Government has, or should have, a say.  They will hate it of course. They will gnash and wail and moan about local democracy. But guess what? Big picture economic success is more important.  The big picture, generally, is more important. The national story is more important.  Christchurch learned this last week over their intensification scrap, which lasted years and cost them millions, that this Government is serious and on a central vs local head-to-head, only one side is coming out on top. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.