Recently, the government has announced some major reforms to how regional councils operate, with regional councillors proposed to be replaced by boards made up of city and regional mayors, and potentially even Crown-appointed representatives, called combined territories boards, or CTBs.

As well as this, Health Minister, Simeon Brown, has called for the decentralisation of Health New Zealand, with the expectation that the entity focuses on deliveries closer to the front-line, additionally expecting a plan to do so by the end of the year.

For our weekly catch up with the National Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to MP Stuart Smith about these topics, starting with the regional council.