Sio Su'a William: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Sio Su'a William: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:15576] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 I said earlier that the Minister driving the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill is a Minister who has lost a lot of credibility in the eyes of the community particularly in the eyes of the Grey Power community. It is the people in the Grey Power community who spend considerable time being part of their communities and considerable time participating and engaging with their local government. Many of the Grey Power community members who are supporters of the National Government will now be saying that this bill should be called the “It is Time to Change the Candidate in Epsom Bill”; that is the name the bill should be given. 
I also say that this bill—and many of my colleagues have said so—is really designed to enable the privatisation of water assets. If the Minister is so keen to promote transparency and accountability why can this Government not be transparent and just name the bill the “It is Time to Sell Our Water Assets Bill”. Heck it is time to sell all of our assets and while we are at it why do we not just sell New Zealand as well? We have done that recently with the  
Hobbit 
 film so why do we not go all the way? Those are the names that come to mind because of the way this bill has been rushed through in this Parliament and because of the way the clauses of this bill are designed to gut local government. 
While I am at it I tell members that we should also give this bill a name such as the “Removing Community Outcomes From Our Communities Bill”. Let us be open and transparent: that is what this bill is designed to do. It removes the right of ratepayers to identify and determine their own outcomes and the bill will give the power to the local authority to decide those outcomes for the community. That is not right—that is not right but that is what this bill will do. I have a suspicion that ratepayers and Grey Power members in particular up and down this country will be listening with interest to hear whether the Government takes a step back and takes their word seriously about transparency and accountability. This bill does nothing for transparency and accountability. It closes shop for the few who are now being given power to make decisions on behalf of the community. 
Another thing is that the bill also removes the right of ratepayers to be engaged in the consultation process from the beginning to the end. Let us be open and transparent for all New Zealanders and name this bill the “Removal of Community Participation in the Consultative Process Bill”. Let us just be open about that and declare that once and for all. 
Phil Twyford 
: It’s a bit long. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: Well it is a bit long. Nevertheless it is being open and transparent; is that not what this Minister has been talking about? The bill is removing the right of ratepayers to participate in the consultative process. 
Another thing is that simply handing over to local authorities the right to determine outcomes and to determine when ratepayers can participate in the consultative process does not make that right and it does not make a local authority the community. The community are the ratepayers. Councils are elected representatives and can be part of the community but they are not solely the community. The community are Grey Power; the community are ratepayer associations; and the community are Manukau Auckland region Waitakere and Porirua where my friend Kris Fa’afoi is fighting tooth and nail to keep this Government out there come this Saturday. I would say they are the real communities. They are the real communities but this bill this Minister and this Government have no desire to allow the participation of the wider community. That is why Kris Fa’afoi would not agree with this bill. Kris Fa’afoi would say that we should be open and transparent and simply call this bill what it is; it is the “For Sale of Assets Bill”; it is the “For Sale of New Zealand Bill”.