Note: The following statement of reasons should be read in conjunction with the statement(s) of reasons appended to the:

• Severe Weather Emergency Recovery (Local Government) Amendment Order 2023

This statement of the Minister’s reasons for recommending the making of this order is published in accordance with section 10 of the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Act 2023 (the SWERL Act).

The relevant Minister (the Minister of Local Government) is satisfied that this order is necessary or desirable for 1 or more purposes of the SWERL Act and is no broader than is reasonably necessary to address the matters that gave rise to the order.

The SWERL Act creates the ability to issue Orders in Council to assist communities affected by severe weather events to respond to, and recover from, the impacts of the events. The purpose is to provide for the planning, rebuilding, and recovery of affected communities and to aid economic recovery. It enables other legislation to be relaxed, or to operate more flexibly, to allow for this.

Clauses 5 and 6 deal with 2 processes: the conclusion of a triennial regional agreement, and the publication of a local governance statement, where the affected local authorities could not comply with the statutory time limits because they were attending to cyclone response matters following Cyclone Gabrielle, which crossed the North Island between 12 February and 16 February 2023 (a severe weather event within the meaning of section 4(1) of the SWERL Act) (the severe weather event). The effect of the order is to make a small extension of the time period the councils had to complete this process. These clauses deal with a situation where provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 could not reasonably be complied with owing to the circumstances resulting from the severe weather event.

The modifications and exemption in clauses 7 to 9 relate to changes that apply for the duration of the 2023/2024 annual plans adopted by the local authorities. They recognise that the requirements to consult on the adoption of the 2023/2024 annual plans set out in section 82 of the Local Government Act 2002 may not be able to be fully met in the circumstances of the affected local authorities. They require local authorities to comply with section 82, but only to the extent it is reasonably practicable to do so in the circumstances. Each affected local authority will need to make its own judgement about what is reasonably practicable according to the circumstances prevailing in its area.

Clause 8 recognises that, as part of cyclone recovery, councils may have to make decisions about levels of service that they were unable to anticipate in their 2021 long-term plan. The effect of clause 8 is that councils will be able to make those decisions without having to formally amend the long-term plan they adopted in 2021.

Clause 9 recognises that local authorities are faced with high levels of unanticipated and unbudgeted expenditure due to the severe weather event. The effect of the clause is to allow affected local authorities to apply revenue received to their immediate priorities without being constrained by existing statutory consideration of how costs should be distributed between different classes of ratepayer within their communities.

Clauses 7 to 9 facilitate the short-term recovery in each of the communities affected. They do this by relaxing the operation of provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 to avoid diversion of resources away from the effort to respond to the damage caused by the severe weather event.

Clause 10 permits local authorities to make changes to rates remission and postponement policies without fully complying with the consultation requirements of section 82 of the Local Government Act 2002. This is to enable prompt amendment of those policies to allow councils to offer rates relief to individual ratepayers affected by damage caused by the severe weather event, should councils choose to do so. This is consistent with the principal purpose of the SWERL Act to provide for the recovery of affected persons, by facilitating the restoration and improvement of economic and social well-being.

Clause 11 allows local authorities to set rates that were not anticipated in their long-term plan, for example, a recovery rate. Such rates would still need to be provided for in their annual plan for 2023/2024 and subject to the related consultation on that plan. This is consistent with the primary purpose of the SWERL Act and is achieved by modifying the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 to facilitate recovery from the severe weather event.

Clause 12 exempts a local authority from a disclosure requirement in their annual plans related to financial prudence benchmarks. The benchmarks are disclosure requirements only—they do not prohibit or limit financial management practices by local authorities. In the circumstances these local authorities face, normal considerations of financial prudence are necessarily suspended. This clause allows the Local Government Act 2002 to operate more flexibly to take account of the actions local authorities will necessarily take to respond to the severe weather event.

The SWERL Act requires that orders are not broader than reasonably necessary. This order has been confined to 6 of the most severely affected local authorities. It has also been limited in time. Clauses 5 and 6 are revoked on 1 September 2023. The remaining clauses are revoked on 30 June 2024, so apply for 1 financial year only.

The Minister of Local Government is further satisfied that the order does not breach section 11 of the Act, nor does it limit or is a justified limit on the rights and freedoms in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

The engagement process described in section 9 of the Act has been complied with.

A draft of this order was reviewed by the Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel. A copy was also provided to the Regulations Review Committee. The Minister of Local Government had regard to the recommendations and comments provided by them.

Note: The preceding statement of reasons should be read in conjunction with the statement(s) of reasons appended to the:

• Severe Weather Emergency Recovery (Local Government) Amendment Order 2023