Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3628 Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
Labour members are proposing a review commission. It will have to meet, it will
have to be accountable to the people of Auckland, and—this is a really good part—its
members will actually have to have experience in local government. Unlike the
members of the Auckland Transition Agency’s governing body, these people will have
to know what they are doing, and they will be there to serve the people of Auckland in a
local government capacity. The review commission will be able to review the Minister’s
decision about toilet paper.
I think that is a really important safeguard for the people of Auckland. A transition
agency is being set up to hand power over to the Minister’s mates and the Prime
Minister’s mates until a council structure can be put in place, which will then hand
power over to the Minister’s mates and the Prime Minister’s mates. We need a check
and balance, and the review commission is that check and balance. As I said, the review
commission will have to meet every Monday and Tuesday of every week for the
duration of the transition period. There is no requirement on the Auckland Transition
Agency to actually meet with the people of Auckland. There is no requirement at all for
it to be accountable to the people of Auckland.
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): I move, That the question be now
put.
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour): Thank you for the chance to take a call on
new Part 11 in the name of my colleague the Hon George Hawkins. There are two great
questions in politics—only two. The first is: how on earth did Gerry Brownlee get that
job? How on earth was Gerry Brownlee given that job? And, the second great question
is: who guards the guardians?
This morning, considering the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill in
urgency, we have to ask ourselves some questions about the basics of politics—some of
the great questions about how it is handled for citizens and by citizens. This new part
considers the question in this particular way: it appoints a review commission to oversee
the work of the Auckland Transition Agency.
I draw members’ attention to new clause 52, which sets out the powers of the
commission that George Hawkins is recommending in this new part. It states: “The
Commission shall have the ability to direct the Transition Agency to reconsider a
decision taken.” That is a very important point. I am not sure members opposite
understand just how much power Parliament is devolving in urgency at the moment.
They have been briefed at caucus that this is a simple bill, but it is not a simple bill. This
bill shifts power in New Zealand not to more people but to fewer people. And those
fewer people are not elected; those fewer people are appointed. They are not appointed
by the lead party in the Government, the National Party; they are appointed by a
Minister from a party that enjoys about 3 percent of the party vote in our country.
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: And a fine Minister at that.
Hon DARREN HUGHES: Well, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga is very easily impressed
through his community board meetings, his council meetings, his district drainage board
meetings, his annual plan meetings, and his draft long-term council community plan
meetings. He is very easily influenced by power; he tries to collect every job that is
going. Goodness knows whom he is invoicing for today for his being here, but I hope it
is not the people of Auckland.
The point here about new clause 52 is that under the bill as it stands, Mr Hide gets to
appoint an authority whose actions cannot be reviewed by anybody. Mr Grant
Robertson will talk about the process by which the review commission will do its work,
and there is an important part around hearings. But my point is that the powers of this
commission are important safeguards for our Parliament. We are trying to decide who
will guard the guardians. One-third of our people will be governed by the transitional