Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6574] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I want to make some comments about one of the amendments that Labour is putting up in this debate. It proposes the establishment of an Auckland Services Performance Auditor. This is one of the many recommendations of the royal commission that this Government has chosen to sideline and ignore. Aucklanders will judge the success of the super-city on three things. The first is rates: what it will cost us. The second is democracy: whether we will still have a say in the running of our city. The third is the quality and scope of the services of the city. The royal commission recommended that council-controlled organisations be established for virtually all of the council enterprises. Two of the main ones will be the new water monopoly which the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill will go a long way to establishing and the new Auckland Transition Agency. 
I want to focus my comments on the water monopoly for a second. It is a hugely ambitious project a vertically and horizontally integrated water company dealing with drinking water and waste water right across the city—huge assets that are essential for the long-term well-being of the city. Water as we know is a human right—nothing is more essential for human survival than access to water—yet there is concern and anxiety across Auckland today about the likely impact of this new organisational merger on water bills for Aucklanders. We know that the Government policy and the recommendation of the royal commission is that volumetric pricing be rolled out across the city. We also know by comparative analysis of water charging across the different territorial authorities in Auckland that if the volumetric pricing regime currently used by Metro Water were to be implemented in other councils then a family of four in the North Shore Waitakere or Manukau would be looking at a $700-a-year increase in their water rates. 
This alone is reason enough to seriously consider an appropriate accountability mechanism for this new monopoly company. The amendment that we are putting up from this side of the Committee proposes that the new performance auditor be responsible for ensuring that the water company is accountable that it is transparent that its pricing practices are subject to scrutiny and that it is held accountable for providing the highest standards of customer service. The performance auditor would report publicly not just on the water company but on all of Auckland Council’s operations and all of its council-controlled organisations. It would conduct a 3-yearly efficiency and effectiveness review of the new water company. We all have a stake in this issue. Auckland ratepayers are all water consumers. 
The other aspect to the amendment is an annual performance audit of the Auckland Council. This provision needs to be in the bill because the water monopoly is well under way. This bill mandates the establishment of a fully integrated water company and it has to be put in place if Aucklanders are to have trust and confidence that the new water company will behave in a way that is appropriate for a publicly owned monopoly especially one that deals with such a vital commodity as water. 
I want to make it clear that the proposal does not detract from the governance responsibilities of the Auckland Council. It does not set out to undermine the responsibility of those people who were elected through the political process and who are responsible for the council-controlled organisations and the operations of the council. The purpose of this amendment is to provide analysis reporting and advice so that Aucklanders can see with some regularity and transparency the quality of the operations of the Auckland Council. If we are going to go down the track of amalgamating rationalising and integrating all the operations of the council into such large operations it is essential that this performance auditor is an advocate for citizens that it protects the interests of citizens and that it is able to go into bat to assist the politicians and the political process. 
It is also a check on the bureaucracy.