Podcasts about local councils

In part two, apricot or biscotti? Those are two of the options Timaru councillors chose from for a paint job at the Theatre Royal. Then, you've heard of board game cafes, but how about a remote control cafe? A spot in Auckland's Mt Eden lets people send diggers around a sandpit as they sip their coffee.

Peter, Tom and Security are joined by friend of the show Frank. Frank works for a local council and talks about the shift to full EV's by Local Councils. Tom stopped liking someone because of the smell of her car. Peter discusses how many cars each car make has to sell to equal the profit of one Ferrari sale. Security talks about the rate of suicides by kangaroos on the highways.Follow us on Instagram and email us at alltorque@outlook.com.au

Residents in Island Bay say they were confronted with nightmare scenes when faecal matter and sanitary products overflowed from the wastewater system during heavy rain. Wellington Water says a blockage near the southern end of the suburb overnight caused sewage to burst from manhole covers and gully traps over nearly a kilometre. Reporter Bill Hickman has more.

Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper joined Andrew Dickens to chat about the political week that was. They discussed the MPs banned from China following a Taiwan visit last year, the Government moving to ban unelected members from voting in local councils, and the rise of the fringe parties. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government will stop unelected individuals from voting on council committees, a move an Act MP has described as closing an anti-democratic loophole. It seems like a no brainer. Why should unelected individuals have the right to vote on council committees? Of course people who have never been elected to a council or a government shouldn't be given voting rights. You can certainly ask people for their opinion, their informed comment, but voting rights? The issue of unelected New Zealanders being appointed to council committees and then having voting rights has been in the news recently, predominantly around the Far North where hapū representatives were confirmed to be put on a committee tasked with shaping Māori strategic relationships and embedding Te Tiriti based partnership in council decision making. Fair enough, getting their opinions. Absolutely. You would imagine that hapū representatives are the best people to talk about how to shape Māori strategic relationships and how they see Te Tiriti being enacted through council decision making. Totally fair enough. Where it gets a bit murky is that they have full speaking and voting rights alongside elected representatives. They're also paid the daily rate. They don't have to accept it, but they are paid a daily rate of around about 250 bucks plus travel costs plus any childcare, just as elected representatives can ask for. They can volunteer their time and their knowledge, but if they want to be paid, they will be. They wouldn't make final decisions, but they would vote on the issues that would be heard at full council. ACT leader David Seymour said anyone voting on council decisions should be accountable, including facing elections, and the party lodged a member's bill to prohibit voting rights for unelected appointees. But Simon Watts, Local Government Minister, has basically cut their lunch and announced that non-elected individuals can be appointed to offer their professional advice, they can represent communities, but they will not be able to vote or count towards a quorum. The statutory committees and appointments, including those agreed as part of a treaty settlement though, will be excluded. WATTS: This is a specific board set up for Auckland Council. Short answer is, is that for the Independent Māori Statutory Board, those members will only be able to vote on council committees where the law specifically enables it, and what that means is, is that that committee's set up under a different act. HDPA: So they retain their voting rights? WATTS: If it's related to the specific act. So it relates to where they're doing the management of natural and physical resources. If they're on a subcommittee doing that, then they're able to vote. Anything else, they're not able to. So, does that clear it up? I would be really interested to hear from a range of interests as to how council decisions will impact, and some will vary more than others. If you're in Wellington right now, for example, and you're in council, you would want to hear from businesses as to how decisions made by the council have impacted upon them. The cycle lanes, the development of, or the neglect really, the lack of development around the bridge, the Paremata Bridge and the library, the reopening of the library, the cost of that, the redevelopment of the Michael Fowler Centre. You would want representatives from business to say, look, this is our experience, this is what's happening, make your decisions perhaps based on that. If you're Māori in the Far North and you're dealing with issues around Māori land or the rating of Māori land, the re-rating of Māori land, or water, tourism perhaps, you would definitely want a Māori lens, a Māori perspective. But if you're going to be making decisions so that some issues don't make it to full council, elected members might not even know that there was an issue because it's been dealt with by these unelected representatives and they have voted on what the elected members of the council will actually see, I think it's a different story. Imagine if the Government asked a panel of Newstalk ZB hosts for their reckons to shape policy and then vote on it as to what would get to Parliament. You know, basically act as a select committee. I don't think so. You wouldn't stand for that. And if we want to have our reckons represented at a council level or government level, then we stand. We stand as councillors, mayors, we stand as MPs. There are 33 Māori across all parties in Parliament, representing a huge range of views and lived experiences, which is fantastic. We have councillors, chief executives, highly regarded mayors, all Māori. And I'd be really interested to hear the views of Māori, particularly in how it relates to land and water management. But if you're not elected, I don't think you should have a vote. Have a reckon by all means, but not a vote. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The speed of the changes to council voting rights is sparking some concern. The Government is amending the Local Government Act, which would strip non-elected representatives of voting rights on council committees. Changes would impact iwi and youth representatives, although Treaty-based committees are exempt. Local Government NZ Board Member and Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell told Kerre Woodham that while they understand where Minister Simon Watts is coming from, this is substantial and unprecedented reform. She says it's a pretty quick change to the law, and they hope they can continue to have input so as to ensure there's no unintended consequences. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was a story on the news last night about the government's push to have fewer local councils and how it's given them just a few months to come up with a plan. The threat being that, if they don't, the government will force it on them. And a couple of things struck me. First, it occurred to me how successful the government has been in getting these councils to toe the line. The councillors and mayors on the news last night were all going on about having the opportunity to choose their own destiny. Which, for some of them, will be looking for another job. One of them said it was great to do it to yourself instead of having someone else doing it to you, which they might have phrased a bit differently if they were given the chance. Nevertheless, I thought that if the government's objective was to make these councils sit up and take notice, then objective achieved. The other thing that occurred to me, and I see that Wellington mayor Andrew Little is saying the same thing, is that this local government reform has rip, shit and bust written all over it. Yes, 67 councils in a country the size of New Zealand is too much. And yes, amalgamating these councils makes perfect sense. I mean, I'm a big advocate of the greater Christchurch councils joining forces. Have been for a long time now. But, as Andrew Little is pointing out, establishing the super city in Auckland wasn't an overnight or rushed thing. He says the Auckland Council was created after a Royal Commission that ran for years. And he reckons it's going to be impossible for councils to properly design and submit proposals in the timeframe set by the government. And he's right. Although we know why the government's got the rush on, don't we? It's election year and it needs to be able to say before the election that it's delivering on its promise to overhaul the local government sector. But that's where the risk comes. Because if the government's motivation is to put itself in a position where it can trot out that line about getting stuff done, then we may end up with a local government structure no better than the one we've got. Yes, we might have fewer councils, but that might be about it. Because sometimes there's nothing wrong with taking your time to do something properly. And, for me, this is one of those times. We were talking about the Waimakariri Council yesterday and it's back in the news today, with this public consultation it's started as part of the plan it has to deliver to the government in just over two months from now. It's put three options on the table: staying on its own but picking up the work that ECan does in its neck of the woods, amalgamating with the Hurunui and or the Kaikōura councils, or joining forces with Christchurch City and Selwyn. Which is all horse before cart, just like the government's approach is horse before cart. Because right now things are still up in the air in terms of what these councils are going to be responsible for, especially with the government's intention to do away with regional councils such as Environment Canterbury. And until that becomes much clearer than it is now, it is futile asking councils to find another council or councils to join their team, because none of them have got any idea at the moment what they're going to be responsible for. So yes, press on with your local government reforms, but do it in a way that means we do actually end up with something better than what we've got now, and not just a rearrangement of the deck chairs. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this latest Papal Snapshot (our first of two episodes this week), we cover a letter from St. Jerome in which he describes papal authority over local church councils both east and west. More than 1,600 years later, this continues to match the same Catholic Church!VISIT OUR WEBSITEhttps://eternalchristendom.com/BECOME A PATRON OF THE GREAT TRADITIONAs a non-profit, you can support our mission with a tax-deductible gift. Help us continue to dig into the Great Tradition; produce beautiful, substantive content; and gift these treasures to cultural orphans around the world for free: https://eternalchristendom.com/become-a-patron/CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIAX: https://twitter.com/JoshuaTCharlesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshuatcharles/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuatcharles/DIVE DEEPERCheck out our “Becoming Catholic” resources, where you'll find 1 million+ words of free content (bigger than the Bible!) in the form of Articles, Quote Archives, and Study Banks to help you become, remain, and deepen your life as a Catholic: https://eternalchristendom.com/becoming-catholic/SUBSTACKSubscribe to our Substack to get regular updates on our content, and other premium content: https://eternalchristendom.substack.com/EXCLUSIVE BOOKSTORE DISCOUNTShttps://eternalchristendom.com/bookstore/CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro01:59 - Historical Context03:08 - St. Jerome, Letter 12304:29 - ConclusionThis podcast can also be heard on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

Credit to Simon Watts. Some time ago he told me he was going to do something to stop councils like the Far North District Council. They put ten iwi representatives, not elected by ratepayers, on a committee with six councillors who were elected, with full voting rights, thereby outnumbering the elected folk. I sent him a text two weeks ago asking him when I should check back in with him to see what he was going to do. He responded. Asked me to give him two weeks. Two weeks ran out yesterday. Yesterday is when he announced that he would be changing the law to take those voting rights away from unelected representatives on councils. This has become something of a race relations issue because the greatest number of unelected members that get attention are Māori, iwi reps, and mana whenua reps. But it's actually more than that. It also involves youth representatives, under 18's who haven't even learned to live in their own houses and pay their own power bills, who are given permission by councils to vote on council issues without being elected. And yes, it is about race relations and trying to stop the spread of this strangely fashionable idea that one ethnicity gets special treatment. But it is also about a fundamental of democracy – you choose who governs you. Ratepayers are being bled for money at rates none of us would've thought were possible ten years ago. For our entire lives that has come with the right to then also vote for the people who we best trust to spend that money, even if that is a low bar. Somehow in the last few years that has started to change, and councils have told us how much to pay and then also who will govern. That needed to stop. Yesterday's decision is welcome. But I'd like it to go further. I'd like all unelected representatives now removed from councils because, in many cases, they are a cost. They are paid, sometimes, the same as elected representatives and they are unnecessary in an age where advice and input is easier to find than ever. But given the likely kickback this will get from the handwringers, good on Simon Watts for making the right call. And on deadline too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Local Government Minister says most councils will be affected by the Government's overhaul of committee voting rights. A Bill amendment will strip voting rights from unelected members —including iwi and youth representatives— on council committees. Simon Watts told Heather du Plessis-Allan he's open to further changes down the track, but acknowledges some unelected members still bring value to local decision-making. He says there are emergency management committees that have specific expertise, for example. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TV grandee and former Chairman of Ofcom, Michael Grade, joins Katie Razzall to discuss his outlook on the broadcasting sector. The Society of Editors is warning that local journalists are struggling to get access to elected councillors. Its CEO Dawn Alford shares her concerns, and we get the views of Oliver Rouane-Williams, founder and editor of Ipswich.co.uk, and Michael Hadwen, Reform leader of Suffolk County Council. Over 600 figures in French cinema have signed an open letter voicing concerns about the influence of French billionaire Vincent Bolloré. The BBC's James Waterhouse introduces us to the media tycoon often dubbed the ‘French Rupert Murdoch'. Plus, what are the editorial challenges of reporting on the heatwave? Laura Tobin, ITV's weather presenter, joins us to discuss.

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Anna Rāwhiti-Connell and Phil O'Reilly. First up, the big 7.9% rates increase has been passed in Auckland. Mayor Wayne Brown explains why it's necessary. Then, a community support centre in Whangarei is being forced to close, arguably in a time when people need it most. Manager Angela McGregor tells the story.

An Auckland woman who has been attacked more than once by dogs on her street is now too afraid to walk her dog outside her gate. A resident in a neighbouring suburb said the problem of roaming dogs is making her consider moving. Auckland council agrees uncontrolled dogs are a problem and is hoping for changes to 30-year-old Dog Control legislation. Jessica Hopkins reports.

It's time for Mayoral minutes our regular weekly segment where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing, how they're working to solve them and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to the capital Wellington, from where Mayor Andrew Little joins Jesse.

I was in the Coromandel over the weekend and I was reading their regional paper which still exists, The Informer, and in it was an article by Jeffrey Robinson, who's a local affairs reporter with decades of experience, and he points out the debate that is happening all over the country. The government is ending New Zealand's two tier regional and district council system, it has to happen by 2028 and every district must choose a new unitary council model. The only rule is, well you can't go with the status quo. There's got to be change, there's got to be a rationalisation, it's got to be amalgamation, it's got to be smaller. Now for Coromandel residents, they believe this means choosing between two options. One, create a small eastern Waikato focused council that looks after the Hauraki Plains and the Coromandel Peninsula that reflects the rural and coastal communities of interest, a Hauraki Plains Coromandel unitary authority. Or the other choice is be absorbed into a Hamilton based Waikato super city scenario. Despite not having asked its ratepayers what they want because there's just not enough time and the government has demanded the action, they're all debating it. And the Waikato Regional Council has already said what it wants: one giant unitary authority based out of Hamilton for the entire region. I mean it's the 07 isn't it? It's all got the same phone number, let's all have the same council. Now under that model, the Coromandel with just 32,000 people would hold one seat on a 16 member governing board based out of Hamilton. Hamilton alone would hold seven seats. They have the advantage, they have the influence. Decisions on rates and infrastructure and environmental management and long term planning would be made far from the Coromandel, while a Coromandel local board with only one seat to represent it would be left with minor matters they'd worry about parking and Christmas decorations, but they think they've got bigger fish to fry. And, of course, a Hamilton based super block of seat holders would mean that Hamilton would be able to dominate decisions and funding. Yeah we could do a new bridge in the Coromandel, or we could make sure that new suburb of Peacocke has more stuff. I think we'll go for the Peacocke, won't we? What do you think? Yeah, there's only one guy to vote against it, that's what we'll do. The Coromandel and Thames are very wary of that. This may be efficient, but they believe it would also be unfair. This eastern Waikato unitary council by the way, this idea has deep roots. Back in 2012 Coromandel and Hauraki residents gathered more than 1,500 signatures calling for just that, a council that represented Hauraki and Coromandel, keeping the decision making local. And such a model would return regional rates and jobs and environmental management to the communities they actually affect rather than happening in Hamilton, and ensure representatives live with the consequences of their decision. Thames Coromandel councillors will be discussing this on May 26th. Here's the thing though, have they asked their ratepayers? No they have not, because the government said you've got three months to do this, it's 10 weeks away, you've got to do it, just do it. They don't have the time to consult. Nobody does up and down the country. And this is happening up and down the country. In the Wairarapa, Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa are considering a combined rural unitary council because they don't want to be ruled by Wellington. In Taranaki, iwi and local mayors support splitting the region into two unitary councils that represent the natural north south and urban rural division. Hāwera does not want to be ruled by New Plymouth. Waitomo and Otorohanga are developing a King Country unitary proposal because they don't want to be run by Hamilton. And in the South Island, Selwyn's mayor also wants to protect Selwyn's identity because there they're talking about the Canterbury councils merging into a Greater Christchurch super city and they are not sure they want that. The mayor, Lydia, says it's an incredibly short timeframe, we can't consult with our ratepayers but we need to make sure we make the right decision. And they're not happy about it. Waimakariri and Selwyn ratepayers have expressed reservations of being ruled by Christchurch. And this is a real fear up and down the country. The move to rationalise local government could see the big cities and towns grabbing all the power and money. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Citizens Advice Bureau is facing significant funding challenges. Wellington City Council decided yesterday to effectively halve its funding for the local bureau, leaving the free independent service reeling. Citizen Advice Bureau CEO, Kerry Dalton spoke to Lisa Owen. 

There are calls for a national bed register, to stop so called ghost communities caused by short term holiday rentals. A bed register could force operators, like AirBnB, to share data with local councils; including accommodation addresses. The concern is that some areas, particularly in visitor hotspots, are being taken over with temporary accommodation... hollowing out neighbourhoods and making it hard for residents to find accommodation. Christchurch councillor Nathanial Herz Jardine spoke to Lisa Owen.

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In part two, a reference to the Duke of York will be removed from a commemorative plaque in Nelson, but not all councillors agree. Then, there's no time like a fuel crisis to consider ditching the car for the daily commute. Co-founder and co-director of the Wednesday Challenge, Heidi Hughes, makes the case for wheels and walking one day a week.

Let's try to solve some of the world's problems now, it might sound ambitious but every second Thursday for ten minutes or so we do our best to right some wrongs, or at least discuss how to approach doing so. Jesse is joined by Dave Armstrong from the Wellington production company Armstrong Creative. Dave wants to discuss Wellington Council's offices, artwork spend and the water meters.

As fuel costs rise, Katy Gosset talks to a transportation engineer about thrifty ways to get around instead of using the car.

It's time for Mayoral minutes, where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing, how they're working to solve them and what makes their community special. This week we're heading to the Tauranga, from where Mayor Mahe Drysdale joins Jesse.

The RMA Minister says councils have already signalled they'd like to join forces with neighbours. The Government's announced a fast-track amalgamation process, asking councils to submit proposals for merging with neighbours to form unitary authorities. They have three months to submit a rough plan. Chris Bishop told Mike Hosking there's quite a lot of momentum behind it already. He says they've had quite a lot of councillors, mayors, and people on local government land express interest in getting on with it and amalgamating, so they're giving them the opportunity. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Local Government Minister says a pathway's been made for councils to fast-track reform - because they're raring to go. The Government's announced councils have three months to submit rough merger plans, for becoming unitary authorities. In November it said it would abolish regional councillors, and reform local Government over a number of years, while encouraging district councils to merge. Simon Watts says councils have been so receptive, they've invited them to fast track it. "I don't want to set the pace of this reform by the slowest council - actually, the opposite, we want the ones that are ready to go to have a pathway to do that." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The RMA Reform Minister says simplifying our councils is a crucial part of changes to Resource Management. The Government's today announced a fast-track amalgamation process - asking councils to submit proposals for merging with neighbours to form unitary authorities. They have three months to submit a rough plan. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper explained what this could mean going forward. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Data from the latest annual ratepayer report shows rates are up an average of $451 nationwide to an average total of $3,386. The report additionally shows debt is climbing with councils owing around 220% of their annual rates revenue. Taxpayers Union Executive Director Jordan Williams joined Mike Hosking to discuss the report. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So I was in Christchurch giving a speech to part of Local Government New Zealand - the South Island arm - so the room was full of mayors and councillors from across the South Island. One of the topics up for discussion was what councils around the country need to do, or could do, to win back public approval. I have to be honest: I left that room - and you know my views on councils - feeling just a little bit sorry for the councillors and mayors I met. The ones I spoke to seemed to be honestly trying. They admitted they've got more to do and that there are stupid costs they need to cut as well. But what they told me is that they're up against it. They're dealing with things they can't change: national laws like the RMA that tie their hands, and unelected staff who just go ahead and do their own thing. And sure enough, there's a story that illustrates at least some of that perfectly. Wellington City Council staff have spent $130,000 on new art for their flash new building - a building where they've hogged the top floors and shoved the mayor downstairs, where he's staring at a wall. Now, the thing is, they don't need art. They have no money and they're going hard on Wellington ratepayers. They do not need to be spending on art. They've already got an extensive collection they could draw from, which includes Colin McCahon, Toss Woollaston, Ralph Hotere, Dick Frizzell - Pablo Picasso, for goodness' sake.Judging by the criticism from elected councillors, it seems those councillors didn't even know the unelected staff were splashing out on fancy art. That's what these people are up against: bureaucrats who treat ratepayers like a bottomless ATM. That is a major problem. Now, I'm not making excuses for elected councillors or mayors - they have their own part to play in big spending. But some of them are genuinely trying. They're just up against decades of ingrained largesse like this. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Anna Rawhiti-Connell and Mike Yardley. First up, so-called coalition cracks are back in focus after Winston Peters' office released internal emails in an OIA where Prime Minister Christopher Luxon suggested showing "explicit public support" for US strikes on Iran. Political analyst Grant Duncan unpacks the latest. Then, Northland locals are decrying a proposed $4.50 toll for the new expressway. Business group board member Julian Smith explains.

Supermarkets and cities are facing a problem with borrowed and abandoned shopping trolleys. A New World in Auckland's Point Chevalier has posted on social media that it's gutted at the sheer number of trollies that are AWOL just eight months after it opened. It effectively had an amnesty on Thursday, park it on the foot path and it was cruising the streets to collect them. Reporter Bella Craig went to talk to locals about trolley-gate. Meanwhile, hundreds of trolleys are being dumped around Hamilton. Vanessa Williams, General Manager of Love the Centre, the Hamilton Central Business Association spoke to Lisa Owen.

The goverment wants to cap rate increases at between two and four percent a year, saying double digit increases year after year are unsustainable for households. It plans to bring in a new law by January 2027, with a two year transition to caps. S & P said councils don't look ready to comply, only 5 out of 78 managed to deliver a rate increase below four percent for the 2025, 2026 year. LGNZ Board member and Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith spoke to Lisa Owen.

Mayors from areas affected by the ongoing closure of State Highway 3 in Taranaki are calling for an urgent meeting with NZTA. New Plymouth District Council mayor Max Brough spoke to John Campbell.

Several mayors are demanding a meeting with NZTA saying they are dealing with unacceptable disruptions on State Highway 3, from New Plymouth to Te Kuiti. NZTA Regional Relationships Director Linda Stewart spoke to John Campbell.

In part two, shop owners on Whangarei's Bank Street say the installation of a priority T2 lane on the street is severely affecting their business. The council says its just teething issues. One of the affected businesses talks to the panel and begs to differ. Then, the history of and the misconceptions around the origin of the ANZAC biscuit. And if that whets your appetite, here's some biscuit recipes for inspiration this ANZAC weekend.

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There's excitement around the Ruapehu District that someone new might soon have the keys to the historic Chateau Tongariro. Local mayor Weston Kirton spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

It's time for Mayoral minutes, where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing, how they're working to solve them and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to the Hurunui District in North Canterbury, from where Mayor Marie Black joins Jesse.

People have spent the night out of their homes as downpours continue to hit the lower North Island - with a red heavy rain warning in place. Hutt City Council teams were going door to door on some streets urging people to leave their homes as rain fell last night. A state of emergency has been declared for the Wellington Region. Lower Hutt mayor Fauono Ken Laban spoke to John Campbell

Some locals in Mount Maunganui are calling for clarity about when Mauao will reopen. Mayor of Tauranga, Mahé Drysdale spoke to John Campbell.

Time for this weeks expert feature. Today Jesse is joined in the studio by Mayor of Auckland Wayne Brown. Wayne has been Mayor of New Zealand's largest city since 2022 and in that time it's fair to say, you're not left wondering how he feels about issues. Honesty that seems to be working for Aucklanders as he romped home in the latest election.

Weekly interview with Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon; What US blockade could mean for international shipping; Road closures affecting farmers and growers; Concern over future storm resilience from top climate scientist; Wellington Zoo celebrates 120th birthday

The latest information as Cyclone Vaianu heads for New Zealand; An update on the conflict in the Middle East from BBC correspondent Paul Adams; Regional councils are asking the government to help smaller airlines to keep their communities connected; NZ's parkrun movement links up with GPs for a new trial

Winston Peters discusses meeting with Marco Rubio; Weekly Political Panel with Nicola Willis and Carmel Sepuloni; An update from the Middle East with : BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner; Commerce Commission responds to fuel price increases; DIY road markings appear in Mosgiel

It's time for Mayoral minutes, where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing, how they're working to solve them and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to Ashburton, from where Mayor Liz McMillan joins Jesse.

Auckland's Mayor is taking an axe to rate-payer funded catering. Documents show was more than $1M last year and almost $5M over the past four years. Jessica Hopkins reports.

A Dunedin city councillor has resorted to reading a novel to defend himself at what he's likened to a public show trial. First-term representative Benedict Ong was censured by his colleagues at a meeting today for criticising a council staff member, in an email sent last month to the chief executive and local journalists. Tess Brunton reports.

A council in Amberley Beach - north of Christchurch - is proposing what could become the country's first planned coastal retreat. The costal adaptation plan gives owners of the towns 109 properties the option to move to a new site further in land. Land the council have already purchased for $3.8 million But as seen at a fiery public meeting last week not all of Amberley Beach's current residents are happy with the plan Jesse talks to Hurunui District Council Mayor Marie Black.

The latest political poll is out. We have reaction from the Prime Minister, and Winston Peters, as well as analysis from RNZ political editor, Jo Moir; Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick discusses its proposal to the government over fuel pricing; Calls for government to encourage more use of public transport.

From self‑driving Teslas to geopolitics and rising property taxes, this episode dives into the issues shaping everyday American life. The Common Ground crew tackles AI addiction, drone warfare, midterm election uncertainty, and why local politics may matter more than ever. With humor, personal stories, and unfiltered debate, they explore how technology, faith, leadership, and community collide in a rapidly changing world. To learn more, please visit our website The Common Ground This podcast is produced by BG Podcast Network. Chapters00:00 Introduction and Banter01:42 Faith, Opening Prayers, and Setting the Tone03:25 Teslas, Technology, and Full Self‑Driving Stories06:40 AI, ChatGPT, and Everyday Use09:08 Drones, Ukraine, and Global Conflict11:36 China, Oil, and Geopolitical Shifts13:57 Stoicism, Stress, and Personal Resilience16:22 NASCAR, Revenue Battles, and Sports Politics18:48 Gas Prices, EVs, and the Future of Energy21:09 Midterms, Voting Systems, and Local Leadership23:31 Sheriff Races, Political Strategy, and Community Impact25:46 Property Taxes, Housing, and Economic Pressures28:10 Local Government, Schools, and Policy Battles32:52 Podcasts, Lobbyists, and the Political Landscape35:15 National Security, Protests, and Law Enforcement37:26 Guns, Safety, and Training41:54 ICE, Immigration, and Public Perception46:29 Federal Spending, Contracts, and Accountability48:46 Settlements, Lawsuits, and Legal Realities50:57 Development, Real Estate, and Local Challenges53:18 Business Cycles, Restaurants, and Staying Ahead55:39 Public vs. Private Solutions for Schools58:06 Taxes, Endowments, and the Cost of Government01:00:27 Universities, Tuition, and Student Life01:02:48 Sports, Academics, and the Carolina Way01:05:05 NIL, College Athletics, and the Future01:07:27 Franklin Street, Campus Culture, and Change01:09:27 Tuition, Out‑of‑State Costs, and Access01:11:49 Business, Economy, and American Identity01:14:12 Media, Politics, and Public Influence01:16:38 Local Council, Pressure, and Governing01:19:04 Epstein, Scandals, and Public Curiosity01:21:20 Prison Systems, Justice, and Reality01:22:48 Race, Society, and Cultural History01:24:48 Africa, Identity, and Travel Reflections01:27:09 Food, Culture, and the Diaspora01:29:26 DNA, Family Stories, and Heritage01:33:17 Race, Class, and Shared History01:35:40 Closing Thoughts and Shout‑OutsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wellington City library has officially re-opened after being closed for almost seven years due to earthquake risks. RNZ reporter Krystal Gibbons reports live from the opening.