Under the plan, all 11 regional councils across New Zealand would be abolished, with their responsibilities \u2013 from environmental management and public transport to civil defence and Treaty settlement commitments \u2013 handed to new Combined Territories Boards (CTBs) made up of city and district mayors, possibly alongside appointed Government commissioners.<\/p>\n
Northland Regional Council employs 340 people who only learned of the proposal at the same time as the public.<\/p>\n
Tipene said the lack of clarity has created \u201ca whole lot of uncertainty\u201d for NRC staff who now face months of worry.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are frustrated, disappointed, and angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your livelihoods are at stake, you want information upon which to plan for yourself, your family, and your circumstances. At the moment, we can\u2019t give them that, other than to say as soon as we find out, we\u2019ll let them know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tipene acknowledged the risk that talented employees could leave before any new structure is finalised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got an absolutely fantastic staff who are very skilled, experienced, and wise. We\u2019re very proud of our team. But people will be looking at their options. I don\u2019t think this has been well thought through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tipene stressed that any new structures must uphold key principles: protecting the environment, ensuring local voices in decision-making, and safeguarding the Treaty of Waitangi.<\/p>\n
\u201cForm follows function,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Northland Regional Council’s Whang\u0101rei office. Photo \/ NZME <\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever structures are in place must allow key aspects like meeting the needs of Northland, taking Northland forward, and recognising that not all parts of Northland are the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tipene raised concerns about the Government\u2019s emphasis on economic growth, saying it must not come at the expense of a \u201cclean, vibrant environment\u201d.<\/p>\n
He insisted that balance and diversity of governance must be built into the new boards, so that economic imperatives do not override environmental protection or Treaty obligations.<\/p>\n
He warned against models that would allow councils to act as both \u201cpoacher and gamekeeper\u201d, regulating themselves without independent oversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is untenable. If the poacher is the gamekeeper, we don\u2019t have the checks and balances in place to ensure those principles are upheld,\u201d Tipene said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he would have stood for election had he known the reforms were imminent, Tipene said things \u201cmay have been a little bit different\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe central government wouldn\u2019t like it if they all just got elected and then somebody said we\u2019re going to reorganise central government.<\/p>\n
\u201cNonetheless, it\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about the kaupapa and what\u2019s good for Northland and what\u2019s good for the people. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tipene didn\u2019t know if there would be a place for him on the proposed mayor\u2011led board. <\/p>\n
\u201cProbably not,\u201d but said he nonetheless felt privileged to be working through times of change and would do his best to help the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI embrace what\u2019s come through, but … There is a way you go about transitioning through change, and this is not good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tipene said the council had already been proactively working with district mayors to find efficiencies and deliver greater value for ratepayers. <\/p>\n
That unity among Northland\u2019s councils shouldn\u2019t be overshadowed by the Government\u2019s directive, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis announcement only means we\u2019ll double our efforts now,\u201d \u2013 efforts he said would change from being proactive to reactive.<\/p>\n
Tipene hoped Northland could develop its own \u201cbespoke solution\u201d and pitch it to the Government as part of the submission process. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe lead and we put in place what suits us, and then pitch that as part of these reforms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Until more detail emerges, Tipene said he could not offer staff any assurances other than \u201cwe will do our best on their behalf\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe paperwork is not as clear as I would like it to be. The devil will be in the detail.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He confirmed there would be no certainty until after a public feedback period expired next February. The Government\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[103576,74,95,28058,37432,18399,13242,124,5205,1872,222,6750,6098,24176,232,120,15220,111,43,139,1067,69,90,8263,5914,7801,103577,1516,11987,1361,223,165,6173,8238,698,102],"class_list":["post-156453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-103576","tag-after","tag-and","tag-certainty","tag-chair","tag-christmas","tag-confirms","tag-could","tag-council","tag-face","tag-fast","tag-february","tag-hard","tag-hundreds","tag-jobs","tag-likely","tag-line","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-reforms","tag-regional","tag-shadow","tag-spell","tag-staff","tag-sweeping","tag-that","tag-the","tag-their","tag-too","tag-under","tag-until","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}