Democracy too good not to use wisely
Released 06 Aug 2010
Matt Harcombe, Federated Farmers policy advisor
The huge changes to local government structure in Auckland might excite some northern voters into interest in this year's Council elections, but will it have any effect on voter turn out in the South? As the Billboards begin to appear in the Waitaki Valley what will be the trigger to get the masses to the polls.
Declining interest and participation in local government elections has been a clear trend recently. Voter turnout in the 2007 local authority elections in the South Island scraped in just over 50 percent. If that is any measure of the population's confidence in Local government, then to me that points to one of two things, it's either time for another round of major reform, or democracy at a local level, as we know it, is in real trouble.
Local Government represents 5 percent of our GDP and controls crucial aspects of every community's infrastructure - so why is it that only half the voters give enough of a hoot to tick some boxes on a piece of paper and put it in a pre-paid envelope?
Federated Farmers argues that the key to this disinterest is the way Councils are funded. A huge part of a community's relationship with any government is the extent to which taxation is transparent and spread fairly across all those who pay it. Property value rates fail us dismally in both respects.
The fact that only the property owning portion of the community is directly taxed by councils will forever reduce the overall level of community interest, and render the forming of strong opinions on council's activities the almost exclusive preserve of those that pay rates.
Don't get me wrong, democracy is a precious wonderful thing so make sure you use it wisely. There a couple of things you can do. Ask the hard questions behind the promises, ask the candidates what steps they will take to reduce the burden of rates on farmland and most importantly make sure you tick the box, three years is a long time to wait if you don't.
