Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3740 Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill 16 May 2009
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: I am getting to that.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: OK.
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: I will carry on with my speech, because that, in fact, was
my next point. When Gerry Brownlee is in trouble, he turns to the cavalry from the
north. “Hone Carter” might not look flash, but he trotted over the hill just in time to
save Gerry’s bacon from a humiliating defeat. Let us hear it for John Carter tonight! He
should have been the Leader of the House.
Of course, the most important lesson of the week is the lesson for John Key—
amongst others he has probably learnt—and that is not to delegate something as
sensitive as this to Rodney Hide and expect that everything will be OK. It is one thing
to treat a minor party as expendable, and it is one thing to come to politics as though it
is a corporation where one can just delegate to someone, and if it does not work out, one
can sack that person, but politics does not work like that, because Kiwis remember.
The analysts out there in media-land are saying that John Key has over-delegated this
one. He has let Mr Hide run it, and Mr Hide has run into a buzz saw of public anger,
and a buzz saw of opposition in the House, which was good-spirited but none the less
determined. One hopes that Mr Key has learnt some other lessons this week, such as the
fact that there is no way he can stop Melissa Lee from putting both feet in her mouth,
even if he Velcros her to Jonathan Coleman. There are other lessons, too. He should not
rub his finance Minister’s face in it, and still think they can look unified at Budget time,
and he should not count out an energised Labour - Green - Māori Party coalition,
because members might be seeing another one in the future, and it might be sitting on
that side of the House.
If Mr Hide thinks people are angry, he should keep his stumpy little bling-encrusted
fingers off our city, because we care about Aucklanders, and Aucklanders care about
Greater Auckland and the cities that make it up. I also advise him not to count his
chickens.
Paul Quinn: Hallelujah!
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: There is also a lesson for the member from
Wainuiōmata, Paul Quinn. When he has had a good time it is best to stay out of the
House after tea. That is the lesson for the member from Wainuiōmata.
Here is the final lesson for the future. If members have rammed through governance
reform like this to make the way clear for Mr Lotu-Iiga to finally have one job when
other people are looking for them, and if members think they have paved the way for
John Banks to ride into the Auckland Council, they should remember that Aucklanders
make up their own minds. Every Aucklander, at that city’s next election poll, will
identify John Banks with the bill that stole their cities, and they will say: “If there is one
way we can protest against this bulldozing National Government, it is to make sure that
‘Banksie’ is not the mega-mayor.” So this debate does not finish tonight, and it does not
finish this year. The fight-back starts now.
SUE KEDGLEY (Green): I also start by expressing the gratitude of the Green Party
to all the staff in Parliament who have kept the place going over the last few days. I
hope they understand that it was a protest. It was a protest against the slashing and
gutting of democracy in Auckland, and against the profoundly undemocratic way in
which this far-reaching bill—which will obliterate layers of democracy in Auckland—
was whacked through this House without any ability for the people of Auckland to have
select committee hearings or to be consulted in any way. I hope the staff of Parliament
and the people of New Zealand understand that that is what it was about: it was a
protest. What did the Government expect us to do? Did it expect us just to stand by
while this Draconian legislation was being rammed through the House?