{"id":631179,"date":"2026-10-15T07:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T07:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631179\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T07:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T07:48:12","slug":"political-punching-bag-hipkins-says-councils-made-scapegoats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631179\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Political punching bag’: Hipkins says councils made ‘scapegoats’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has accused the Government of using councils as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d and a \u201cpolitical punching bag\u201d, telling local government leaders they had been blamed for problems created in Wellington.<\/p>\n

By Mathew Nash, Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

Speaking at Local Government New Zealand\u2019s SuperLocal conference in Rotorua on Thursday, Hipkins said the relationship between central and local government had deteriorated<\/a> over the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal government has been used as a scapegoat for the current central Government\u2019s poor choices over the current term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past three years, we\u2019ve seen a Government that has been far too focused on treating councils as a political punching bag, blaming local government for problems that it hasn\u2019t properly funded, demanding more whilst providing less.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments reflected a key theme of the conference\u2019s first day, with delegates arguing councils were carrying growing responsibilities without sufficient funding or support from the central Government.<\/p>\n

Follow 1News’ election live blog here<\/a><\/p>\n

Hipkins said councils had been asked to take on more responsibilities without sufficient support.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal government has been asked to carry a huge amount over the last three years, funding, without certainty and without the support needed to do the job properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that central Government could not continue requiring councils to deliver more infrastructure and services while limiting the funding available to them.<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

Labour leader Chris Hipkins talking to Rotorua councillor Trevor Maxwell at the LGNZ SuperLocal Conference in Rotorua. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t demand better roads, better pipes, more housing and better services whilst squeezing the funding that\u2019s available to pay for those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

On rates-capping<\/a>, Hipkins said Labour supported the legislation through its first reading to allow debate on the issue but argued the focus should be on addressing councils\u2019 long-term funding challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t pretend that an arbitrary limit can substitute for a serious discussion about local government funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what alternatives Labour would support, Hipkins said \u201ceverything should be on the table\u201d, including giving councils access to additional funding tools such as visitor levies.<\/p>\n

Labour local government spokesman Tangi Utikere said rebuilding the relationship between councils and central Government would require a more collaborative approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayers are ratepayers. We are talking about the same individual here, and you\u2019re elected, we\u2019re elected,\u201d he told delegates.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Hipkins and Labour’s local government spokesman, Tangi Utikere, at the LGNZ SuperLocal Conference in Rotorua. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Utikere said councils and central Government served the same communities and needed to work more closely on longstanding funding and financing challenges.<\/p>\n

Hipkins also used his address to announce Labour would expand its proposed ratepayer assistance scheme to include support for rates and development contributions.<\/p>\n

New polling released by Local Government New Zealand on Thursday found 66% of voters believed central Government should pay for costs it imposes on councils and ratepayers, compared with 11% who disagreed.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of respondents said local governments should decide on reform, either councils or residents, while only 19% thought central Government should lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncils want to be part of the solution, but local government reform has to be built to last,\u201d Local Government NZ president Rehette Stoltz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must also be locally led.\u201d<\/p>\n

National\u2019s Local Government Minister, Simon Watts, is scheduled to address the conference this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour leader Chris Hipkins has accused the Government of using councils as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d and a \u201cpolitical punching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[44152,42,8028,43,135,40,38,41,39,270122],"class_list":["post-631179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-chris-hipkins","tag-headlines","tag-labour-party","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631179","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=631179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}