Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3658 Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
annoying, irritating eight city councils and that whole layer of democracy, because they
have really been quite irritating and they have not yet fallen into corporate hands. We
will get rid of them. Then we will set up a completely new local government
structure”—which this bill is doing—“that concentrates power in the hands of the
executive and the hands of the mayor.”
This is what academics call “the new strong mayor model”. Basically it means that
the mayor can have complete control of the Auckland Council by picking the deputy
mayor and the chairs, and by coming up with the agenda and the long-term plan. Then
the mayor can unleash the agenda on to the unsuspecting voters of Auckland. And they
are unsuspecting, because none of this was mentioned in the ACT Party or National
Party manifestos before the last election. What will the agenda be? We know that the
agenda is to sell off local government assets. Someone on the Government benches
yelled out “What’s your proof?”. Can I suggest that National Government members
read the ACT Party’s local government policy. It is on the website, and it is plain and
clear for everyone to see.
At least ACT is honest about its policies. It does not try to hide them. ACT is quite
up front. ACT says in its local government policy that it wants to privatise effectively
all of the commercial assets that these councils own, such as the Ports of Auckland, the
airport, and so forth, and it wants the roads to be privatised, and water to be privatised.
The rest of that $28 billion worth of assets will be put into corporate boards and then
those corporate boards will be at arm’s length from the council. The councillors, those
who are not in the control of John Banks and his merry men—even if there were some
left-wing members who were able to find themselves elected on to the Auckland
Council—will have no control because all of these assets will be put into these
corporate boards, at arm’s length, and of course they will all meet in secret, and they
will then begin to unleash this agenda of privatising the assets of Auckland; assets that
have been built up for many years.
This is the second part of the agenda. It was plotted out. It is the reason they have all
come together and got Roger Douglas back into Parliament and why we have Rodney
Hide as Minister of Local Government. I am worried that Aucklanders will realise this
when it is too late.
Hon Member: That’s what happens.
SUE KEDGLEY: It is what happens. There was another piece of legislation that
slipped through last year. Nobody cared much about it. The Green Party tried frantically
to alert New Zealanders to this legislation.
JO GOODHEW (National—Rangitata): I move, That the question be now put.
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour): This amendment, to insert a new Part 9, goes to the
heart of this debate. If the inevitable happens and the National Government succeeds,
with the assistance of Rodney Hide—
Hon Member: And Peter Dunne.
PHIL TWYFORD: —and Peter Dunne, thank you—in ramming through this
legislation, then this day will go down in history for Aucklanders as the day when
National and ACT stole their democracy. The day will also go down in history as the
day when National and ACT stole $28 billion of public assets and put them on the
auction block for future administrations to flog off.
The question was put that the following amendment in the name of Jacinda Ardern to
the amendment to add new Part 9 in the name of Charles Chauvel be agreed to:
to insert the following new clause:
38A Interpretation
In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires,—