Unity or uncertainty?
Will our local politicians be BOLD? Or wimp out?  That is the question.

Based on amalgamation decisions reached by Waikato councils this week, many councillors have proven to be cowards. Why are your neighbours so scary?

Not unifying has caused more uncertainty for business. We hate uncertainty. We stop investing, we stop employing new people, we hunker down to conserve our resources.

Out of our 11 councils in the Waikato, two have opted out of the process and will be told what is happening by central Government.

Taupo, who argued they didn’t want Hamilton’s debt and conveniently forgot about its assets when weighing up the balance sheet, chose to go the backstop route.

Hamilton, who could have provided serious leadership, wimped out and is now at the mercy of being at the back of the queue in the backstop process.

Both councils effectively have no voice and will have decisions forced on them.

Central Government decision-makers need to realise just how unengaged voters have been with this issue. Hamilton City only received 545 submissions from a population of 192,000 during its community consultation.

Central Government could amalgamate the entire Waikato region, and the only whimpers they would get is from a very small group of councillors who refused to get on with their neighbours.

The one thing business hates is uncertainty.  It is time for central government to deliver a united Waikato.

Mayor of Waipa Mike Pettit showed statesman-like vision when he said, 
“Amalgamation was not about the here or now, and it is not about the people around these tables either. This is about building a strong Waikato for the future under unitary authorities”.

Michael Laws put it succinctly, “We must aggregate services - this is where local government unification and unitary authorities make sense. It’s crazy that each council has its own payroll, IT, HR, consents, compliance, infrastructure and management teams. That’s an inefficient madness all of its own.”

Wouldn’t it be great if a Waikato local government politician could announce something like Auckland has this week with its near $100million annual savings result.
Desley Simpson: Auckland Council Exceeds Annual Savings Target Ahead o – Ponsonby News

Waikato ratepayers need what Auckland has, a united single council and councillors focused on reducing rates and improving customer service.

Auckland has leverage, has no internal borders, they even have their own Minister for Auckland, and they keep rates down while looking for more savings.

Since the late 1980s under the leadership of Sir John Gallagher and Don Lindale, your Chamber has been advocating for amalgamation to bring local body rates down and service levels up, to eradicate artificial borderlines on a map, and to give the Waikato a strong voice and leverage with central government.

It is now over to central government to deliver unity, and the faster the better it is for everyone in business in the Waikato.
 

Research
When we last sent out a questionnaire on the subject of unification, you came back with 79% in favour of full amalgamation. The Simplifying Local Government process is ongoing and after our Grow Waikato town hall meeting, many of you will be better informed of the process and the implications for business.

Since the late 1980s, when the then Deputy Mayor of Hamilton Sir John Gallagher and Don Lindale advocated strongly for amalgamation, your Chamber has seen the benefits of eliminating the duplication of services and the purchasing strength of a one Waikato council.

We encourage you to better understand the issues this major change in local government will bring, as it will have an effect on your rates bill, your ability to work across council boundaries and the Waikato’s ability to leverage central government for projects such as Southern Links, industrial and residential developments and all infrastructure needs.

To keep you informed, here are a couple of viewpoints:

One of the better articles so far on the issues across the whole region is from Warren Maher, the Chair of Waikato Regional Council. One Waikato – local voices, simpler government, stronger future | Waikato Times.

It gives a clear description of boosting local voice.
"Bigger does not mean more distant. If reform simply shifts decisions from local councils into a large central bureaucracy, it will fail.

The point is not to centralise everything; it is to put the right decisions at the right level. It’s to ensure the people you elect are fully accountable for how they invest your money. Regional functions should be planned and funded regionally.

Local services, community facilities, place-making, neighbourhood priorities and local partnerships should be led close to the communities affected by them. That means designing strong local decision-making from the start. Local boards, community committees, locally led organisations, iwi and community partnerships, and place-based funding tools should not be afterthoughts.

They should have clear mandates, genuine influence and enough resourcing to make a difference." -  Warren Maher, WRC
 
Some local councillors struggle to see beyond their council borders and, unlike business, they cannot work across those lines on a map, as evidenced by the lack of agreement on which council to merge with.

Why are some politicians scared of a unified Waikato?

They fail to see the pain caused to households and businesses by their voting for a run of successive and excessive rates increases.

Those rate increases saw many of their cohort tipped out by dissatisfied voters at the last election.
 
Another research piece will be coming to you next week to gauge your better-informed opinions on amalgamation.

The Waikato is incredibly well served by our University

Your support of the QS ranking surveys makes a real difference to The University of Waikato’s global rankings. Your input into the QS rankings significantly enhances the University’s reputation and therefore the University’s ability to attract high-quality students, who in turn can join the Waikato workforce which leads to Waikato businesses employing high-quality recruits.

QS results at a glance:

The University of Waikato has retained its world's top 300 universities QS ranking, placing at 293 in the latest QS World University Ranking results.This result highlights several areas of real momentum for the University:

The University of Waikato achieved the largest improvement in both Academic Reputation and Employer Reputation indicators of any New Zealand University.

These two indicators together make up 45% of the total score for the QS ranking and reflect how universities are perceived globally. 

• Academic Reputation position improved by 46 places

• Employer Reputation by an exceptional 156 places

Both signalling growing recognition of Waikato's research excellence and the capability of our graduates among international academic and employer communities.

• There was also an improvement of 50 places in the Employment Outcomes indicator, demonstrating the strength of graduates' career trajectories and the impact of the University's teaching, work-integrated learning, and industry partnerships.

The gains in Employer Reputation this year show what we can achieve when we, as a business community, work together to strengthen the University and the region's global reputation.
 
Thank you to all those employers who assisted with these global rankings results by contributing to the annual global QS Employer Reputation survey.
 
It's important we continue this excellent momentum in the employer reputation metric. Therefore, we ask our members to sign up for the next annual survey that will happen later this year.
 

Sold Out Symposium, now onto the Awards

The SOLD OUT Waikato Waahine Collective Symposium is tomorrow and has an impressive line-up of speakers. Now our focus has turned to the Business Awards. Judging is underway, and the feedback is that the quality of our entrants is very strong.

The finalists chosen from the 80+ entrants will be announced at SkyCity on 8 September. Book your table for the black-tie gala dinner on Friday 6 November, where you can see the finalists and enjoy celebrating the winners.

The Waikato has some amazing companies and people doing amazing things.
 

Waikato Quarterly Economic Monitor 
Join us for our regular quarterly webinar for an in-depth look at the latest economic trends shaping the Waikato. It has been a tough 3 months for business locally and globally, so let’s see how the Waikato has performed given our diverse economy.

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen will present the findings from the latest Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor covering the quarter to the end of June 2026, offering insights into how our regional economy is performing and what the data means for local businesses.

This briefing will cover key indicators including GDP growth, consumer spending, population changes, and housing market activity, alongside expert commentary on the forces driving change across the region.

Is there growing commercial confidence? Has the housing market tanked, and will it go lower in real terms?  Are we seeing a paradigm shift of mum and dad investors away from housing investment?  And where are farmers investing- on-farm or off-farm investment or on overseas vacations?

With so many questions to ask Brad in these uncertain times, you need to join the webinar. You can then take stock of the economy to gain the insight necessary to make sensible decisions so you can stay ahead in a changing economy.

Mon, 24 Aug 2026
11am to 12pm
Online webinar

Register your place here.

Regards
Don Good