Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11579] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 As this debate draws to a conclusion I want to say that I have been absolutely amazed by the National members. They are more cunning than water rats. They have not got up and debated this legislation at all. We have had side issues like the name of a local board—Howick. That is not the real issue. Maurice Williamson and Pansy Wong can talk about the name of Howick but that is not the real issue; the real issue is local government for all Aucklanders. 
One thing that strikes me as being very unusual is the lack of Maori representation. When we have three groups—the Maori Party the ACT Party and the National Party—getting into bed together the sheets get tangled. I am also told that they fight over how much of the blanket each will have. On these cold winter nights in Auckland there are people who feel they are being neglected. Yes I know that the Prime Minister has bent over backwards for the Maori vote but people are annoyed. People in Auckland are more annoyed about this than about what happened to the Tuhoe people. People in Auckland are quite angry especially in places like South Auckland where there is a very large Maori population. They think they are being ridden roughshod over. 
I would have thought the South Auckland MPs from the National Party would have done something about it. Yes we have heard from Maurice Williamson. Yes we have heard from Pansy Wong. But did we hear from Mr Bakshi? Mr Bakshi the ornament of the National Party has been sitting on the mantelpiece for some time gathering dust but never opening his mouth. He never sticks up for local people and I think that is absolutely shocking. 
The Auckland Governance Legislation Committee worked well and we made some progress. But we will end up with something that no one really wants. We have people passionate people like Bill Townsend from up north from Rodney who really want to be out of the Auckland area. We have the same in Franklin. The Mayor of Franklin is a very passionate guy as well. I understand he is not very well at the moment and I send warm greetings to him. People in Papakura and people in Manurewa are not convinced by the Government that things will change. Yes we heard Nikki Kaye make a speech a few minutes ago about all the things she did. She was on the select committee and she promised people all sorts of things. After each person from Auckland Central got up to speak and make his or her views known she would have a chat with him or her. I say to her that if she really wants to go up in the minds of people then she should cross the floor. Crossing the floor is not easy to do—I know that. I remember when Ross Robertson David Lange and I had a problem over the pipeline from the Waikato and we got up to put a different view from that of other people. So I know that it is hard but I say to Nikki Kaye that she can really do some very good work tonight by crossing the floor. 
The select committee whose meetings went on for a long while was well served by the people on it. It had good people with good intentions from all parts of the House apart from the Maori Party whose member turned up only once to drop off a minority report and did not sit round the table although that is what Maori Party members always tell us they want to do. I thank those people.