Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3732 Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
I was particularly interested in the amendments moved by my colleague Carol
Beaumont, which were blocked by National and ACT.
Hon Darren Hughes: By that nasty man.
DARIEN FENTON: Yes; he is a nasty, nasty little man. He is a nasty piece of work.
He is spiteful.
The amendments moved by Carol Beaumont sought to cap the salary of the chief
executive of the transition agency. These are very interesting amendments. I thought it
was interesting that they were all voted down. I think that sends a great message to
people who are at the moment dealing with the impact of the economic downturn.
While ordinary New Zealanders are being told to pull in their belts, this Government is
not prepared to exercise fiscal restraint and rein in the power grab that this bill will
allow.
I saw Bill English come into the House last night and pretend to be the friend of
workers. He pretended to be concerned about the Lane Walker Rudkin workers and the
Bright Wood workers. I look forward to passing on to those workers the message that
National does not think that a chief executive in these economic hard times should have
to have a salary cap. Why not? What is wrong with that? While the Bright Wood
workers are being dumped with no redundancy entitlements, and while the Minister of
Labour sits on her hands and does nothing about redundancy pay and redundancy
notices, this Government thinks it is OK for chief executives to have extraordinary pay
and not have any restraint on it.
I want to honour my colleagues tonight. I think they are a fantastic team. This has not
been a game for any of us. We have been doing our job. Each of us who has put forward
amendments has done so with care and thoughtfulness. We have debated passionately,
and we have done so with one thing on our minds—and that is to have the voice of
Aucklanders heard loud and clear, because there is simply no other way for them to be
heard. This Government has excluded Aucklanders from having a say and a voice on
how the restructuring of their local government will affect them.
It is clear that National is in a bit of a panic. There has been a direction that National
MPs should get out in their electorates and hold some public meetings. But it is a bit
late for that. I do not think it will fix anything for them now, because this bill makes it
too late. I know that those National MPs are in for a really hard time when they front up
to their electorates, because Auckland people are mad. They are really angry. They
remember the promises those members made, like John Key’s promise for a
referendum, and the manifesto promise. The last 3 days of putting a stake in the heart of
local communities, and of rights and democracy, will not go without a response.
I say to National members that when they get out there, they should take their tin
helmets and put them on. This is the biggest merger in New Zealand’s history, and I
would have expected the Government to be much more careful. There was no need to
rush and there was no need for urgency. I tell the National-ACT Government that
Aucklanders are watching and Aucklanders are mobilising.
Hon Gerry Brownlee: They’re watching and they’re saying: “What on earth are
those guys up to?”.
DARIEN FENTON: Why does that member not listen for a moment? Finally, I
want to acknowledge the workers in Auckland City tonight who, because of this bill,
face an uncertain future. I say to them that the Labour Party is with them. We stand
beside them and we will continue to fight alongside them. In closing, I want to
acknowledge the workers in this place: the food service workers who feed us, the
cleaners who cleaned our offices, the messengers, and the staff from the Clerk’s Office.
Thank you for supporting the important work of this House in these extraordinary times.