What’s behind National’s war on councils?

Introducing Who Broke My City, a new show from Public Interest exploring the politics of local government. Our first episode: amalgamation. Why has the government slammed the brakes on? What's really driving the reforms? And who stands to benefit?

Local government is a vital part of our democracy. But right now, the story of New Zealand's cities is one of broken pipes, vanity projects and endless sprawl. Who's to blame for the mess, and what can we do about it?

Today we're introducing Who Broke My City, a new show from Public Interest hosted by two people who know local government from the inside out: Sam O'Brien from Wellington and Nathaniel Herz Jardine from Christchurch.

Both entered local politics last year as progressive candidates keen to make a difference. Now they're taking us behind the scenes of local government to explore how the sausage is really made, the personalities and special interests at play, and the struggle to find real solutions to the myriad problems facing our cities.

In their first episode, they're tackling the coalition government's plans to merge councils into mega-entities – and its sudden decision to put those plans on ice just two months out from an election.

National said urgent changes to local democracy were needed to lower costs and fix the basics. So why the abrupt backtrack?

Sam and Nathaniel take us on a crash course through rates capping, the urban-rural divide and the vested interest influencing local councils. Are National's reforms straight from the Federated Farmers wishlist? Are city-dwellers about to lose control over the water they drink? And why do rural interests wield so much power in local politics?

Watch the full conversation below and subscribe to Public Interest for more discussions making sense of politics and power in Aotearoa.