Robertson H V Ross: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Robertson H V Ross: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6536] 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON (Labour—Manukau East) 
: 
 We have just heard a bit of passion from the honourable member Nikki Kaye but she did not address the social issues that the Opposition is concerned about. In that respect I support the amendment put forward by the honourable member Phil Twyford about the social issues board. There were 109 submitters who commented on social issues and all but one wanted social issues to be a priority for the Auckland Council. Let me list some of them. Age Concern Counties Manukau believes that multigenerational facilities are needed. Several Manukau City residents who live in the area of most concern said they wanted to retain their free access to swimming pools and libraries although some submitters wanted those services also free for the whole region. Efu Koka supported the establishment of a Pacific Island advisory council. 
We might ask why local government should be involved with social well-being. It is a good question and it needs to be answered. If Auckland City is to become a world-class city then an improvement in social well-being outcomes is critical. Local government is already involved in and can contribute significantly to improved outcomes. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service submission described local authorities as “place-shapers and service enablers” recognising that they have a range of opportunities to enhance or impede social well-being. 
I have recently had the privilege of meeting with a gentleman called Governor Bo Könberg a former Minister of Health and Social Insurance in Sweden. I met with him recently in Sweden because I wanted to look at the issue of pensions and how Sweden addresses the problem. That gentleman was a leading reformer in the mid-1990s and I was amazed to learn the extent to which local issues in Sweden really are local and that things are taken from central government and put into a social government area. I found that there was more decentralisation of authority from central government down to the local level. So I say to the National Government that it should not be myopic when it comes to the whole idea of social issues and social services which can actually be provided by local government because it can certainly do a very good job. I learnt more than anything else that the delivery of social services through small local councils increases the councils’ responsiveness to emerging issues. It means they are more effective and more efficient in dealing with those issues. It was an eye-opener just to see how much could be done at a local level by decentralising services down to the local level so that local actually becomes local. The main thing is the responsiveness to emerging issues. 
We find that many councils in other countries like the Brisbane Melbourne Seattle and London councils are extensively involved in the delivery of social well-being programmes whereas those programmes are strictly the responsibility of central government agencies in New Zealand—for example immunisation mental health services and aged care. That is what I really found interesting when I was in Sweden having a special meeting with that social reformer. He told me just how much Sweden’s local government is involved in delivering those services. In New Zealand we are not doing that and I tell the National Government not to be myopic in its view of these things. It should look at the delivery of social services and see what can be done. It should support the amendment that has been put forward by the honourable member Phil Twyford in the name of the Labour Party because it is a way of doing things that we have not tried in this country. It is a way that we should consider and it is a way that we should look at. We should open our eyes and think outside the square. That is all I want to say on that issue. 
I have one further point. I am concerned about senior citizens especially with the cost of a super-city. I saw what happened to Auckland when the Hon John Banks now Mayor of Auckland City sold off the senior-citizen pensioner flats in Auckland. Who purchased them? They were purchased by the Labour Government because it was concerned.