Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - New Zealand Parliament

3678 Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill 16 May 2009
John Key and Mr Rodney Hide have admitted in this Chamber that they have no idea
how much their sham version of the super-city is going to cost.
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): I move, That the question be now
put.
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Tēnā koe, Mr Chairperson. Tēnā koutou
katoa. I stand to support Labour’s position on new Part 5 of the Local Government
(Auckland Reorganisation) Bill, but also I tautoko Mr Hone Harawira’s comments. We
stand here under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our rights do not come from multiculturalism;
they come from te Tiriti. Although we acknowledge the multiple cultures of Aotearoa,
the first point is the difference between mana whenua rangatiratanga and minority need
for representation. Any legislation in this House should be passed on that basis,
recognising the value of mana whenua, first-nation people first, then recognising the
diversity that Auckland undoubtedly has.
The other main problem with this bill is its capacity to reinforce a trend that has been
dominating local government since its inception in Aotearoa. I have named this TMPM
syndrome—“Too Many Pākehā Men” in positions of power syndrome. Local
government in Tāmaki-makau-rau and throughout the motu is already cursed with
TMPM syndrome, with current and historical dominance of Pākehā men just about
everywhere we look. This is not an attack on Pākehā men. I have lived with two of
them, though not at the same time. Members should not get me wrong: I value my
Pākehā men very deeply, especially the current one. However, I think for Pākehā men a
minority experience in a decision-making process would be a salutary lesson because
unless one has experienced marginalisation as a minority in the decision-making
process, one has no idea what one is talking about or what it feels like.
What is the problem with TMPM and local government? If we are to have
representative democracy, which is not necessarily the only way we can do things in the
Pacific, it should absolutely be representative. In addition, we must acknowledge mana
whenua and the three Māori seats as recommended by the Royal Commission on
Auckland Governance. To my knowledge there is no local authority district in Aotearoa
where two-thirds of the community is Pākehā men, yet 90 percent of local councils
Pākehā men. Fifty percent of all communities are women, and many other cultures are
well represented in most communities, but we will not see them on local authorities
except in corners desperately trying to be heard.
Mr Rodney Hide’s bill exacerbates the problem we have with TMPM syndrome.
There will not be a choice to stand for the super-city council. An “at-large” voting
system is about the money needed to establish name recognition before one can start to
have a chance. That fact immediately marginalises tangata whenua and other people in
the city. The system is also not about numbers. Even if Pākehā men were the majority,
councils would still need to represent different perspectives. Tāmaki-makau-rau needs a
vibrant system of participatory local government that uses creative techniques of
engagement with the diversity of communities, whilst staying based on Te Tiriti o
Waitangi. Māori are not a stakeholder to be consulted, but are the first nation, with
whom we Pākehā—and I am speaking for the Green Party, which is predominantly
Pākehā—via the Crown, need to negotiate relationships based on the article signed on 6
February 1840. Te Waiōhua have made a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, and hence the
Māori Party, the Greens, and Labour are calling for the Prime Minister to support the
recommendations of the royal commission on this issue. There will be a hīkoi, and we
will support it with weary hearts as yet again the Crown pays lip-service to the Tiriti
relationship but gatekeeps the actual political process.
Unsurprisingly I expect to hear proponents of this bill say that if people want
diversity in the super-city then they can vote for it, and if they want Māori seats they