Prime Minister Christopher Luxon repeatedly talked about the need for localism and devolution, not centralisation, regarding local government, during the election campaign and in the months following it.
It is hard to find evidence of it, unless localism has become anything which agrees with national government decrees.
Councils have been scolded for spending on unspecified vanity projects, and told to stick to the basics, although it has not been clear where playgrounds, gardens, libraries, sports fields, swimming pools and museums fit with this approach.
The jury is still out on the overall success or otherwise of the water reform rethink, particularly in terms of cost to the ratepayer.
Local proposals to help council bottom lines such as regional fuel or bed taxes have been ruled out, local views on speed limits mostly ignored, and council spending on social housing discouraged. The threat of capping rates increases hovers. Councils which introduced Māori wards without a poll must either spend money holding one or scrap the wards.
The latest overriding of localism was Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s announcement last week Cabinet has agreed to insert a new regulation-making power into the Resource Management Act , "allowing us to modify or remove provisions in local council plans if they negatively impact economic growth, development capacity, or employment".
There is no mention of the environment.
This is going to be added to the RMA Amendment Bill currently before Parliament and expected to pass into law in the next few weeks.
Mr Bishop says this will stop councils stalling housing developments. The only half-hearted brake on this power is that the minister must carry out an investigation into the provision in question, consider its consistency with existing national direction under the RMA, and engage with the local authority.
Will such engagement simply mean telling it what to do? While Mr Bishop says this is only an interim measure, intended to be in place until the new planning system is introduced in 2027, it sounds so extreme and broadbrush it would seem to give the minister a free rein.
Mr Bishop believes this move strikes the appropriate balance between the local and national interest.
"New Zealanders elected us with a mandate to deliver economic growth and rebuild our economy, and that’s exactly what this new power will help do.
"We aren’t willing to let a single line in a district plan hold back millions or billions in economic potential. If local councillors don’t have the courage to make the tough decisions, we will do it for them."
This does not recognise some voters might have favoured the government because they wanted less central government involvement, as indeed was promised, not more.
It ignores the fact local councils are also elected bodies, even if voter turnout is low. Councils must engage in extensive consultation with their communities over their plans, something not always practised by central governments.
Those contemplating standing for a local authority in the coming elections may well be wondering if it is worth it should their role reduce to doing the government’s bidding and taking the flak.
Days after Mr Bishop’s speech about the importance of housing as a driver of growth, we found out 10 Kāinga Ora state housing projects in Dunedin involving 120 homes have been scrapped.
The ditching of these projects is part of a nationwide cutback of 3479 houses planned by Kāinga Ora, following the review which controversially decided the agency’s debt was unsustainable.
Mr Bishop says bigger cities will help productivity growth and that growing cities means growing opportunities, for jobs, higher wages and a better future.
Fixing the housing crisis will help grow the economy by directing investment away from property, he reckons, although it is not clear what form this might take.
Why Kāinga Ora projects, many of which would have been well under way or possibly completed by now, could not be a much larger part of solving the housing crisis more quickly is difficult to grasp.
