Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3728 Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
Greater Auckland was made. Mr Hawke’s views were that the move was a breach of the
Treaty of Waitangi and that Māori would continue to be under-represented at the local
level. It was at this point that plans started to unfold about a hīkoi proposed across
Greater Auckland on 25 May of this year. It appears that that hīkoi has mobilised
Pasifika communities, ethnic communities, and other New Zealanders, who are uniting
to stand up for the right to quality and equitable Māori representation.
We have all received an enormous amount of correspondence from Aucklanders
concerned about this issue, and I conclude my speech with one of those letters from
Mona-Lynn from North Shore City. She said: “As an immigrant to this country I believe
that if Māori have special status, they need to be treated specially, and Māori seats on
the Auckland Council is one of the ways that this needs to happen. I do not feel
threatened by these seats and do not feel that the way I will be served as a citizen of
Auckland will be any worse off if these seats exist.” Mona-Lynn has the generosity of
spirit and breadth of vision to know that for this super-city to succeed, proper
engagement with Māori must occur.
The opportunity to provide for quality Māori representation is all that we are asking
for and have been asking for, yet in this bill Māori barely rate a mention. I say that no
change of name to the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau) Bill will ever really cut it
by itself. If it is good enough for the Government to claim the name Tāmaki-makau-rau
and add it into this bill as the title, surely it is good enough for the Government to listen
to the claim of Māori in the area and give something back. Let them have seats as of
right. This is not the planet Krypton. We are not debating an entirely different galaxy;
we are talking about Aotearoa and Tāmaki-makau-rau, and therefore we should be
talking about tangata whenua. The Māori Party will be opposing this bill—as we are
opposing all elements of this suite of super-city proposals.
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police): This Local Government (Tamaki
Makaurau) Bill is the first of three bills to deal with Auckland governance. People have
been concerned by Labour’s claims that Aucklanders are being shut out of the debate.
The other two bills will have full select committee involvement, and people will have a
huge amount of opportunity to submit. I commend this bill to the House.
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour): Even after such a brief speech, it is great to be
following Judith Collins, because that member knows something about crushing. She
knows about crushing the spirit of the people of Auckland.
Hon Judith Collins: No, I just crush your spirit, hon!
PHIL TWYFORD: Ha, ha! So much promise, so much good work, and so much
wisdom was invested by the royal commission—by Dame Margaret Bazley, the Hon
Peter Salmon, and David Shand—over 18 months. They worked, they analysed, and
they consulted; they talked to the people of Auckland. There were about 3,500 thousand
submissions, we have heard. They travelled the world, looking at some of the most
interesting and progressive examples of local and city government. They produced a
report that has met the expectations they raised. They generated a blueprint for the
government of Auckland—strong government—for the next 50 years. But what has this
National Government done? What has it done with the aid of the “little emperor” from
Epsom? It has picked the eyes out of that report. It has ignored all the good stuff, and
picked out the bits, just the little bits, that its members understand.
What are those bits? They are the bits about the centralising of power. That is all that
National members care about and understand. They want to centralise power, hand it
over to their mates, their cronies, and lock up Auckland government for the next
generation. On top of that, they have driven the legislation through like a bulldozer,
with no consultation and no regard for basic democratic standards. And that is what we
have seen this weekend, from the comments of National members. We are beginning to