John MacDonald: Time for the Govt to bang heads over council reforms

Author: John MacDonald,
Publish Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2026, 12:23pm

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Christchurch City Council held a vote this afternoon. Photo / NZME

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that our local councils have made such a hash job of coming up with amalgamation ideas.

These are the ideas the Government has asked for, giving them until this Sunday to send them through.

They’ve had three months to do it. Which I think isn’t actually long enough. Nevertheless, it’s turned out to be a real dog’s breakfast. And, because of that, I think we’re just going to have to let Wellington decide what happens.

So the city council is going to vote on its preference today. Waimakariri councillors are also voting today on what they want to happen.

But, already, Mayor Phil Mauger is saying he thinks the urban areas of Selwyn and Waimakariri should be cherry-picked and become part of Christchurch. With the remaining bits joining up to create some sort of new rural council.

This is the first time Phil Mauger has talked publicly about his preference. Up until now, he’s been all tippy-toe on it, not wanting to brass-off the other councils, apparently.

But, now that he’s talking, he’s gone nuclear on it. Especially, when you consider the consequences of what he’s talking about.

Picture this: Selwyn has already said no to any merger. Its councillors have said they’re not interested in merging with any other council.

And the only change they’re prepared to make is taking on the work Environment Canterbury currently does in its area. Because regional councils like ECan are getting the chop as part of the local government reforms.

So we’d have Selwyn wanting to stay independent from all the other councils around here. But, at the same time, you’d have Phil Mauger trying to take places like Rolleston, Lincoln and Prebbleton off Selwyn.

As well as taking Kaiapoi and Rangiora off Waimakariri and letting the bits left in both Selwyn and Waimakariri join up to create some sort of rural council.

That’s never going to happen. Which leaves us with one option: the government stepping in and banging some heads together.

Because Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri have blown it. Which is exactly what the government is going to think too when it sits down on Monday and looks at the hotch potch plans the three councils in the greater Christchurch area have come up with.

This was their chance to lead. Their chance to determine the future of local government. But they’ve blown it, because of petty parochialism.

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