Kedgley Sue: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Kedgley Sue: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6593] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 I warn Aucklanders that there is a right-wing agenda behind the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill which is after all masterminded by Rodney Hide whose party has a stated agenda of seeking to privatise local government assets and to reduce local government democracy—just look on the ACT website. The right-wing agenda is to set up a structure that gives the mayor who could be elected by as little as 20 percent of Aucklanders under first past the post the ability to exert almost total control over the council. He—and I use the word “he” advisedly—will appoint all chairs and will be able to appoint himself as chair of any committee and this will give him and his inner cabal control over the votes as well as the agenda of council. He will decide when and if the council will consult with Aucklanders and he will draw up the budget the strategy and the long-term plan and this will give him the ability to control the council and drive through an agenda. 
The mayor will also of course have control over local boards which are even smaller than community boards but with slightly increased powers. Sure local boards will have the ability to advocate for their communities and propose by-laws and they will have some as yet unspecified functions but I ask how they can be empowered as Mr Carter keeps claiming when they have no staff of their own no autonomy no independent source of finance no ability to deliver services and even no representation on the Auckland Council which will control their budgets and resources. Fundamentally they will be totally beholden to the council which despite what John Carter says has the power to veto virtually any decision of the local board. This is in the much-vaunted principle of subsidiarity; just look at the clauses that provide the ability to veto virtually any decision of a local board. 
We need to remember that these tiny local boards will be replacing Auckland councils that are very well functioning and autonomous. On the one hand we will have a council the largest organisation in New Zealand with $28 billion of assets and representing one-third of New Zealand. We are setting up a sort of state government. This council will be controlled by a mayor and his inner cabal with executive powers that no other mayor in New Zealand has. On the other hand the only counterbalance will be the 20 to 30 tiny local boards in this legislation which are subservient to the governing body of the Auckland Council. 
Aucklanders need to be very careful about who they vote for as mayor next year. If they vote in John Banks this legislation will give him the powers and the tools to become a sort of tsar of Auckland and to push through a radical agenda including privatisation. It is no wonder John Banks says that he already has 600 staff working for him on his campaign team because there is so much at stake here. If on the other hand Aucklanders were wise enough to vote in a mayoral candidate who genuinely wants to empower local boards and to give them as much power as is possible under this bill and who does not want to run the council as a fiefdom then there is a possibility that we could have some form of local democracy through the boards. The choice is stark and it is up to Aucklanders. But ultimately even if we have a progressive candidate next time round as long as this legislation is in place in subsequent elections we could still allow a mayoral fiefdom in the super-city. 
I would like to end with a warning from the Mayor of North Shore. He said that it will only be a matter of time before communities in Auckland realise that despite all the lofty promises their democratic right to decide local issues for their local area has now been passed to 20 councillors in Queen Street who will call all the shots. There will certainly be a community backlash he predicts once local communities start approaching their new local boards for better services only to be told that the best they can do is advocate their case to the Auckland Council or try to plead their case for inclusion in the next Auckland Council long-term or annual plan providing they can secure the funding and there are no regional issues at play. There will be 1 year when this legislation is in place for Aucklanders to come to grips with the full implications of what is being set up under this bill.