Multi-party approach needed for NZ to rebuild its economy after the pandemic, says academic
New Zealand’s local governments must avoid political tensions over the social and economic impacts of Covid-19 and take a “multi-party” approach to recovery programmes, a leading policy academic has said.
Chris Eichbaum, a governance and social policy analyst at Victoria University of Wellington, has questioned whether local councils “are up to the task” of working constructively with prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s coalition government.
He warns that councils must look for compromise, respect the confidential advice of senior staff and avoid “dragging officers into the political affray” as part of political point-scoring.
“The emerging economic and social dislocation caused by Covid-19 and the likely widening and deepening of that dislocation present challenges at all levels of government,” he writes in an editorial published by Newsroom, an independent NZ news outlet.
“Clearly, the big levers central government has at its disposal—fiscal and monetary policy—and the depth and reach provided by public service departments and agencies and the programmes they deliver, will mean central government will be to the fore.”
However, local governments must be “willing partners” in supporting policies in areas such as welfare and labour market reforms.
“With unemployment predicted to rise to levels not seen since the Great Depression, New Zealand will need a set of active labour market policies of the kind we have not seen before. But we know central government alone will not provide the answer,” Eichbaum says.
“A local government council is, in some respects, not unlike a multi-party cabinet. Prime ministers and mayors will sometimes face similar challenges—differences in scale perhaps, but similar, nonetheless.”
He argues that astute government ministers use consultation and a wide network of contacts to identify tensions and find a “zone of agreement” on policies during times of crisis.
“Cabinet decisions will very often reflect granular and vigorous discussions at cabinet committees—and politically neutral public servants will often be called upon to provide evidence-based advice, appropriately out of the public eye—at this level,” Eichbaum says.
“Councils, particularly in the present context, may not enjoy the luxury of in camera committee discussions, but mayors chairing those council meetings should also operate on the basis of ‘no surprises’ and reach out to councillors to broker compromises in advance of public meetings.”