Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3748 Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill 16 May 2009
only. The power, rights, authority, and privilege are being given to three or four people
picked specifically by that Minister.
In Part 1, the purpose clause talks about defining Auckland. Clause 5 talks about the
“Meaning of Auckland”. That clause does not define clearly what Auckland is about. It
is about more than just an area; it is about the people who live there. It is about the
diversity there, the languages that are spoken, the various events that are held regularly
in Manukau, for example. Our concern now is about what will happen to our Polyfest,
which started at the old school of Sir Edmund Hillary, now called Hillary College. What
will happen to that? What will happen to our Asian and ethnic events that are currently
being held in Manukau and funded by Manukau City? The Auckland Transition Agency
now has control of all that, because it has the same powers as if there were a super-city.
That is a deep concern.
I say to this Government that if it had any sincerity—which I have yet to see—about
consultation it would take the select committee consultation back to Auckland. It would
take it to all seven different sectors of Auckland.
Part 2 talks about the mayor and grants his or her executive powers. There is grave
concern about the at-large election of the mayor and the substantial powers that are
given to the mayor. The questions that we want answered are about how we will choose
that mayor. Will it be by first past the post? Will it be by the single transferable vote
system? Will it be by preferential voting? These are the questions our communities will
be asking this Government. That is a decision that they have to make.
The executive powers of this mayor are of deep concern to us. This mayor will
appoint his buddies and friends to be deputy mayor and chairpersons of committees.
Too much power in the hands of one person is not a good thing. We know what has
happened in other situations like that. Power corrupts, and we do not think that is right. I
liken the super-city to a canoe that will take us to the future. If that be the case, then all
people need to be on board and everyone needs to be paddling in the same direction.
There will be only 20 people on this council. Eight will be elected at large, and only
the rich and wealthy will be able to stand for those positions. What about ordinary
workers and families in our community? What about Māori? The Māori Party says that
Labour has betrayed Māori. That is an outrage. We are the ones who have been
demanding that this Government be held to account, to ensure that there are Māori seats,
Pacific seats, and representation of Asian and other ethnic groups on this local council.
What about the local boards’ powers? Local boards cannot simply go cap in hand to
the council and ask for the resources and things that local government bodies need for
local communities. It is not just about dogs, prostitutes, and gambling—although some
members on the other side of the House might enjoy those things. It is not just about
that.
Finally, I will say three things. I say to Government members that if they are sincere,
they need to give the people of Auckland time to consult on these bills. The
Government needs to do that. It needs to give them time to develop quality submissions.
Not everyone is familiar with the select committee process, and I do not want to see this
Government go out there and select only its friends, the business elite, to come and
debate this. We need to allow every single member of those communities of ours to
debate this, in their own languages if need be.
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National): I rise to take a short call on the first reading of the
Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. It follows on from the Local Government
(Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill, which was passed this evening. We need to
look at the facts here. The facts are that the previous Labour Government set up the
royal commission—[Interruption]