Regional govt wait

Press, 25 November 1977, Page 4

Regional govt wait

.1 New Zealand has no hope [of achieving regional govern-1 ment for at least another 10 ' years, according to Professor J. L. Roberts. Professor Roberts, a lecturer in political science and public administration at Vic- ; toria University, told a con- ■ ference on regional social ; policy at Canterbury University yesterday that the fight for regional government! had. until now, been lost.! However, it seemed that' ' fields such as education and I health seemed to be moving j ’ more towards regionalism in their own right. I

: Professor Roberts said he i [did not now have much faith 1 i in formal structural reorgan- ■ isation. i He believed that central i ■ government had become so ; I thickly clotted with problems • that policy making was being • pushed aside. I “Unless central government i •[gets miniscule problems out i G of its way and out of the :! Ministers’ hair the less i . | chance there will be of inno- i tlvative policy making.” l! Ms Claudia Scott, a lec- , ;jturer in economics at Auckland University, said she felt '• (there was a need for Govern- <

ment to adopt a different attitude to handing out money. “There should be a shifting away from special grants tagged for a certain purpose,” she said. Regional administration would need a firm financial base and there would have to be financial resources at a regional level. The conference is a national one and will end this morning. A related conference on directions in New Zealand sociology’ will begin directly afterwards.