A Government drive to cut red tape could make the compliance burden on councils worse, the Dunedin City Council fears.
The council has asked for local government instruments, such as bylaws, to be excluded from the contentious Regulatory Standards Bill, citing problems with potential confusion and bureaucrats second-guessing local decision-making.
Applying the Bill to local government would be "duplicative and burdensome, undermining local autonomy and accountability", the council said in a submission to Parliament’s finance and expenditure committee.
The Bill was put forward by Act New Zealand and is expected to pass into law, as it was part of the deal for forming the coalition government.
The Bill’s explanatory note said it aimed to "reduce the amount of unnecessary and poor-quality regulation by increasing transparency and making it clearer where legislation does not meet standards".
"It intends to bring the same discipline to regulatory management that New Zealand has for fiscal management."
Critics have slammed it as threatening the public interest, public health, protection of the environment and Maori rights.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said at a council meeting this week the proposed law blurred the lines between central and local government and it could have far-reaching consequences.
Cr Steve Walker said, in simple terms, the Bill "tries to make all future governments follow a set of Act’s principles when it comes to making laws".
Cr Marie Laufiso saw the Bill as "pernicious", because people’s collective rights seemed to be placed below those of big business and corporations.
Cr Carmen Houlahan said concerns included the undermining of democracy, introduction of unnecessary complexity to the lawmaking process — "more bureaucracy, more red tape".
The council expressed concern about the absence of Treaty of Waitangi principles.
Cr Christine Garey said there was widespread outrage in the community about the Bill and the council’s submission gave some voice to this.
Cr Lee Vandervis, who was the only councillor to vote against the council’s submission, said it was a piece of "government bashing", exhibiting a "scolding tone".
The council’s submission was unlikely to have any effect, he said.
Act leader David Seymour said Dunedin’s councillors had demonstrated what was wrong with councils.
"If these councils find it too hard to crash through bylaws without thinking about basic regulatory principles, the answer might be to make less of them.
"The Regulatory Standards Bill requires councillors to ask and answer certain questions before they place restrictions on ratepayers’ freedoms," he said.
Mr Seymour said the Bill, in its current form, did not apply to existing bylaws, "but future regulations will require the council to consider how ratepayers will be impacted by proposed restrictions placed on them".
The council could still apply them but might have to explain why.
"If that’s not local accountability, I don’t know what is."
