One of the common points of reference when discussions arise about whether New Zealand has too many, too few, or just enough councils is the hyper-local approach taken in much of Western Europe. This begs the question - why do some European countries have so many local government entities while New Zealand has comparatively few?

The Department of Internal Affairs’ Local Government branch is meant to provide policy advice and an element of system stewardship for the local government sector, but their advice to Local Government Minister Simeon Brown on intervening in Wellington City Council contained an absolute howler of an error that should have been picked up.

A letter writer to The Post appeared to be confused about the powers of a Crown Observer, listing out a number of “jobs” they wanted to see Wellington City’s observer attend to such as stopping all capital projects and halting the recruitment of a new Chief Executive. So Local Aotearoa decided to clear up the confusion over what a Crown Observer can and can’t do.