On October 30th, the Local Government & Environment Select Committee reported back on the reforms proposed, stating that it could not recommend the passing of the Bill in its current form.

The government's announcement of reforms to the Local Government Act raised concerns for Auckland's arts advocacy group Creative Coalition earlier this year. 

The proposal that references to cultural wellbeing be removed from the Act was an especially concerning feature of the Bill, affecting members of creative sectors across the country. 

"Section 3(d) of the Act provides for local authorities to play a broad role in “promoting the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of their communities, taking a sustainable development approach”. Clause 4 of the bill seeks to replace this with “meeting the current and future needs of their communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of regulatory functions”.

This would essentially remove the legislative requirement for territorial local authorities to deliver on cultural well-being to their residents. 

Creative Coalition, alongside the Arts Regional Trust, submitted both in writing and verbally. Follow-up submission summaries were also sent to several MPs in the Select Committee. 

Creative Coalition was pleased to see the Committee raise concerns around the purpose of local government and the removal of the wellbeings when the Committee reported back to Parliament. 

"There is concern that the proposal to replace the “four well-beings” (social, economic, environmental, and cultural) would remove key responsibilities from local government and threaten the maintenance of local government activities that foster community cohesion and welfare."

However, despite these concerns being raised, the Committee did not include references to cultural wellbeing in the revised version of the Bill they returned to Parliament. 

This suggests that government majority will likely see the Bill passed largely in its original form, removing references to the wellbeings from the Act. 

Creative Coalition will meet with local Auckland MPs on Monday, 12 November to pursue further action in advance of the third and final reading of the Bill (date currently unknown). Please contact us with any comments or concerns to raise during this meeting.