Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

16 May 2009 Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill 3629
authority—one in three New Zealanders’ lives will be affected directly by a bill that
members opposite do not want to debate.
After 15 minutes’ consideration of a commission that could review and be a backstop
to this agency, National members want to move closure on it. They are shutting down
debate on a topic that affects the lives of over 1 million New Zealanders. Over 1 million
people’s lives change as this bill goes through, yet National members are not interested
in that. They think it is no problem. They trust Mr Hide. Mr Hide has been doing over
the National Party since 1996, but they are too stupid to even realise it. Rodney Hide
runs rings around these people, and he will find ways of getting his people into the
agency. He even smartly put up a new amendment yesterday to give the transition
agency five people, not four, so that he could appoint another of his people to run all
this. That is how smart the Minister of Local Government is. The Leader of the House is
so stupid, he cannot work that out.
There are two great questions in politics. First, how the hell did Gerry Brownlee get
that job? And, second, who guards the guardians? The Labour Opposition, through
proposed new clause 52, gives an answer to the question of who guards the guardians.
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: Wasting taxpayers’ money.
Hon DARREN HUGHES: Sam Lotu-Iiga has the cheek to talk about wasting
taxpayers’ money. He is so good at wasting money that he wastes not only taxpayers’
money but ratepayers’ money as well. That is efficiency! It is machine-like efficiency
to, in the same hour and on the same day, waste both taxpayers’ money and ratepayers’
money! I do not know any other member in this Committee who can do that. Do
members know the sad and terrible thing about it? Although he is getting money off
both sides, both sides are getting poor value for money. I wish Sam Lotu-Iiga wore a
big receipt on his chest so that we could rip if off him and get our money back. The
Minister of Consumer Affairs is from the ACT Party. We know that the ACT Party is
running rings around the National Party, so why does the Minister of Consumer Affairs
not get our money back from Sam Lotu-Iiga? That is the question we want answered
here this morning.
I am in favour of new clause 52. It will be good for the decisions of this transition
authority to be able to be reviewed by the commission, which will be set up to check
these things. You know, after the one term that Paul Quinn is getting in Parliament,
maybe he could be on this commission, because every commission needs a secretary.
Everybody needs somebody who is useless, and he could be the person to make sure
things are going well in that particular regard.
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government): I move, That
the question be now put.
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green): It is very good to get a call for
the Green Party, after many attempts, on this excellent amendment in the name of my
colleague George Hawkins to insert new Part 11, which appoints a review commission
for the Auckland Transition Agency. If ever an organisation needed judicial oversight
by a review commission chaired by a judge, this agency does. Three people—the
Minister and two of his henchpersons appointed by him—will be able to countermand
every decision made by every council in Auckland, and make them do something
different.
Hon Trevor Mallard: So it could be a squash player and a dancer who has been
dropped on her head?
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS: Well, the mind boggles at just who those two people
might be, but regardless of who they are, they are clearly subservient to the Minister.
Our largest city is not run as a dictatorship by one Minister in Parliament who,
incidentally, had the support of some 3 percent of the population when his party was