Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6518] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I congratulate the previous speaker Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga—it took him only 11 hours of this debate to get up and make a speech. We have been talking for 11 hours then he graces this Committee with his words. You know it is quite interesting that that member got up and talked about having one leader for Auckland one vision. That sounds a bit like communism a bit like what went on in the old days in Russia—one leader one vision. It surprises me that someone from the right-wing National Party would do that. It was also interesting to hear the National member who lives in Te Atatu Tau Henare. He will not cross the floor because he will not betray his party. He came here first of all as a member of New Zealand First then he crossed into Mauri Pacific then he was in the wilderness for a while and then he joined the National Party. But something has happened to Tau Henare since he joined the National Party—this democratic party that gives people the ability to have their say. They might be able to have their say but they cannot have the vote they want. Tau Henare was unable to have the vote he wanted. He has been put to one side. 
I will talk a bit about the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. I think that this bill is very very important. I do not believe that the Government necessarily has it all right and I do not think that the Hon John Carter or the Hon Rodney Hide think they have it all right either. That is why we on the Labour side of the Chamber talked about having a review of this legislation after 5 years once it is up and running to see what needs to be changed. I think this has to be built in. I think Aucklanders deserve to have a situation where they know that things that are not right could be put right. It is very hard when we have such major changes to legislation and the set-up to get it right first time. 
I also think we should be hearing how much this is costing Aucklanders. We know about the costs to democracy but we need to know the financial costs. This Government has been absolutely silent on the financial costs and that is something I think this Government owes the people of Auckland. It should be telling them what this will cost. In my electorate I have lots of elderly people who are really worried that this is going to cost them a huge amount. 
Nikki Kaye 
: That’s because you told them. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There goes Nikki Kaye squawking again—squawking squawking squawking. That is her style. It might be all right in Auckland around the coffee bars and the wine bars but it is not good enough in this Chamber. People want to know exactly what this is going to cost. We are going to take eight different computer systems and put them all into one system and that is never a cheap exercise. I saw it when I was in Government. When I was a Minister I saw all these great ideas of how new computers would do marvellous things. First of all there were what people would call stuff-ups. Then there were financial blowouts. I think Government members should get up and tell us about this. 
The other thing I want to mention is local boards. I hope Manurewa has a local board; it has something like 80000 people. And then there is Papakura with 48000 people. Will they both have the same representation in the size of their boards? Or will they have different numbers representing the various boards? People do not know about these things and of course Government members are not saying anything about them. Will the Maori people have an assurance that they will get elected to local boards? No I do not think the Government will do that. But it is important that we know whether the local boards will have four people or nine people.