Beaumont Carol: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Beaumont Carol: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6529] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to speak to an amendment in my name to clause 12 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. The intention of this amendment is to look at making sure that we stop any potential double-dipping or representational rip-offs. I know that the Minister the Hon Rodney Hide has spoken about this earlier today and that we might need to tighten up the wording of the amendment a bit but let us be clear about the intention. The intention as I say is to stop any potential double-dipping and representational rip-offs. It would mean that MPs for example would not be able to stand at the elections next year for the Auckland Council and in the meantime if there was a parliamentary by-election it would stop a councillor from becoming an MP and remaining a councillor. 
That is a very important principle we believe especially at this time when we will be going through a fundamental change in Auckland’s governance. We want to have people who can really focus on the job and do the job properly and who can make sure that they spend the requisite amount of time doing either job. The bill as it is drafted already covers a similar sort of situation. It covers the situation of a person who is already on a local board then being elected to the council. It is the same sort of principle. 
In this House we have an illustration of the problem that this amendment tries to deal with. This example is councillor and MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga who often finds that he cannot or does not do both jobs properly. That is fair enough. It would take a superhuman effort to be an MP—which is more than a full-time job as we all know—and a councillor and he is certainly not managing to do it. The community is aware of that. Here is an article from a while back headed “Missing in action”—he is the “Missing in Action Man”—because the community really does not believe that he can do the job. The real issue is that to hold two important jobs representing citizens is to effectively reduce the representation that people have in the Maungakiekie electorate— 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: I’m doing better with two jobs that you’re doing with one Carol. 
CAROL BEAUMONT 
: —those people whom reputedly he represents the people of the Maungakiekie electorate—and in the Tamaki-Maungakiekie ward of the Auckland City Council. In the course of doing those jobs the member concerned receives two salaries some of which may or may not be donated at his discretion to organisations in the electorate. 
I think an illustration of the problem is the silence of the member Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga on the Auckland governance reform. It was 11 hours into the debate on this bill before he rose to speak probably due to uncertainty I think about which hat he is wearing. It does raise the question as to whether there are any differences between National’s position on this reform and that of the Banks-led Citizens and Ratepayers councillors of Auckland City Council. I know that the member concerned is a very big fan of both the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide and also of the Mayor of Auckland John Banks. 
On the face of it the member Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga might have had a bit to contribute to this debate. I am prepared to be fair-minded. On the face of it having done both jobs I think that he could have a bit to contribute to this debate. But his contribution all the way through it has been minimal. In what I heard of tonight’s contribution he was telling us all how good Rodney Hide is and that he supports Rodney Hide’s ideological position before going on to say that everybody he has spoken to supports these changes. Well I have to tell members that that certainly does not align with what I hear when I talk to Aucklanders generally and in the Maungakiekie electorate in particular. One of my colleagues happened to mention that some friends had attended a Government meeting on Auckland governance where Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga did not really talk very much because John Carter carried the can and that the friends said the MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga was bullying people at that meeting. He said that they were not listening and he did not agree with the point of view that they were putting forward. 
I think that it is important for us to clarify in this Committee the point that the people who are taking on such an important role should devote their full time and energy to undertaking that role. I am sure that members opposite would agree with me on that. We all absolutely recognise the importance of these changes to Auckland’s governance.