Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

16 May 2009 Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill 3725
One of the things that has concerned the Green Party is the role of the media in the
whole debate. The media have been moaning about the fact that it costs $10,000 a
minute or something for Parliament to meet, but no one in the media that I am aware of
has raised questions as to why we should not be told what the transition will cost.
Nobody in the media has asked that question. The other thing is that nobody in the
media has questioned the censorship provisions contained in the bill. There are
provisions in the bill that amount to censorship. They say that the handpicked cabal,
Rodney Hide’s two or three men who will be running the Auckland Transition Agency,
will have the power to censor, to override, to prevent any agenda item from being
debated over the next 18 months. Has anyone in the media expressed any concern about
those censorship provisions? We are up in arms about what is happening in Fiji, where
the Government there is censoring the media, but no one seems to be concerned about
the fact that the bill includes provisions to allow the transition agency to censor all the
councils of Auckland in the next 18 months.
Nobody in the media seems to be the slightest bit concerned about the four little
words “as it sees fit” that have sneaked into the legislation. These words create a new
precedent in New Zealand, because they say that the transition agency is to let people
know what it is up to only if it sees fit. As MPs we have a Register of Pecuniary
Interests—and the latest is about to come out. Imagine if we put an amendment that we
would declare our pecuniary interests only as we see fit. The media would be absolutely
up in arms. It would be a scandal. It would be on the front pages of the newspapers that
politicians were trying to withhold information about their pecuniary interests. But not
one single media outlet has expressed any concern about this new precedent. The
Government having slipped it into this bill, will it now be slipped into all the other bills
that come before the House—that information is to be divulged only as people see fit? I
am deeply disappointed that the media have been so cynical about this process and have
not picked up on those provisions, which amount to censorship, to the ability to
withhold information, and to the ability to control the agenda items of the councils over
the next 18 months. Nor do the media seem to be the slightest bit concerned about the
wiping out of a whole layer of democracy and the imposing of a new model of
democracy—the “strong mayor” model, which really amounts to giving the Mayor of
Auckland the powers of a tsar.
They do not seem to be the slightest bit concerned about that, or the fact that it is
being done through the passage of legislation in haste without any consultation with one
single Aucklander. It is an absolutely basic principle of governance that if we are to
change the system of governance, we need to have a majority of the governed assent to
it. That is why we have referendums when we seek to change the system of
governance—for example, with the introduction of MMP. The Government is changing
the whole model of governance in Auckland without any referenda, without any
consultation, and without any mandate. The media seem to think that it is a joke.
Rodney Hide and Roger Douglas must be rubbing their hands with glee. There will
be, I am sure, a considerable celebration—maybe not tonight; they might be too tired.
Later on, the champagne will be popping, and they will say “We’ve done it again.
We’ve completely conned Aucklanders.” Actually, it is not just Aucklanders, because
once this measure has been foisted upon Aucklanders we know that it will be rolled out
over the rest of New Zealand. They have managed to con New Zealanders and
Aucklanders. Those two members will be rubbing their hands. They have used
blitzkrieg tactics, ramming things through—tactics that were perfected in the
Rogernomics era. All of those tactics have been brought out to whip this bill through the
House. Roger Douglas will think it was worthwhile his coming out of retirement to
return to the House. He has rammed his agenda through. He has come up with the