Ryan Bridge: Complaining about councils, yet again

Just when you thought local council couldn’t get more absurd and extravagant, they’ve dreamt up a new way to not make decisions. To do less, with more.

Citizens assemblies. A crackpot idea the Romans once used. But Romans did lots of weird stuff we stopped doing, and this should be one of them.

They’ve got one on the boil in Whanganui. 

In Napier, 40 unelected locals have just finished sitting around talking about where to put a new swimming pool and what that pool might look like. 

Four weeks later. $800 per person, including refreshments and god knows what else - $100,000 total from the rates take. It's basically a catered chinwag between neighbours that they call an assembly.  

And guess what? They couldn’t come up with a consensus on where to put the pool.

Despite all the expertise, the opinions for Africa, the specialists, the Lamingtons, no location was decided. 

You can’t make this stuff up.

Why bother with a council, a Mayor, an MP?

Like DJ sets and recycled period cups, these citizens assemblies are very much in vogue with the radical left across Europe right now. 

But they’re also a massive waste of time and money and the more I read about stuff like this, the more I think we’d be better off dispensing with democracy and bringing in a dictator. 

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise was quoted as saying the assembly’s recommendations "were an invaluable starting point in the journey towards a new pool…”

Give me strength. 

An invaluable starting point for a new swimming pool is a hole in the ground.

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