Viewpoint – The slow erosion of democracy

Why do councils feel so different from the old days? Why do they seem so much more impersonal?

Back in the day, elected councillors were served by a town clerk, and assisted by a small but highly competent staff. Town clerks regarded themselves as public servants, working in the best interests of the ratepayer, rather than working for the best interests of the council. They provided contestable advice to elected members, which could be heeded, or rejected, according to the best judgement of the politicians. The public trusted the councillors to make the best decisions for the community. Councillors could even arrive at job sites and inspect work standards and oversee how effectively public money was being spent.

Today, however, elected councillors are served by a bureaucracy, over which they exercise no effective control. Instead, a chief executive of the council runs all operations interpreting how they see fit the policy decisions voted through by the elected members.

The Auckland council-controlled CCO model has chief executives for five substantive CCOs, as well as another CEO running the Port of Auckland and a CEO running Auckland Council. Each CCO also has its own board of directors.

The Supercity structure means there is less direct accountability, particularly by staff, back to ratepayers.

Councillors are strongly discouraged from interfering with the CEOs. “Operational” matters are the CEOs domain and councillors are legally forbidden from adopting a “hands-on” approach to the governance of the city. Indeed, the council employs a small army of “democracy managers” to ensure councillors, and local board members, are kept well away from the coal face of delivery.

The tail is wagging the dog. Current legislation is allowing bureaucrats to erode elected members’ power and their autonomy. This erosion of democracy is slow but steady, together with the loss of operational oversight of the spending of ratepayers’ money.

Newly-elected members are told very clearly that while they are entitled to talk about policy, they must, on no account, attempt to implement it. It is council staff who do this and who essentially run things.

In other words, our local board members and councillors are democratically elected to govern their communities on one very strict condition – that they never, under any circumstances, attempt to challenge the way the bureaucracy implements their decisions.

Change is required. Any mayor, councillor or local board member who challenges this current set-up, seeking greater accountability of council bureaucracy, should be applauded rather than criticised. Against the odds they have retained sufficient self-respect to say “no” to a self-fulfilling bureaucratic beast.

There are now major efforts underway to move greater accountability back to ratepayers from the CCOs, including Auckland Transport. These changes have been jointly led by the Mayor and myself. Called the CCO Reform programme, it already has the support of central government’s Cabinet as law changes are required to implement the desired transformation.