Fenton Darien: Rodney District Council Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Rodney District Council Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12544. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I move  
That the Rodney District Council Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee. 
The purpose of this bill as set out in clause 3 is “to constitute the Rodney District Council as a unitary authority”. As such it will have the responsibilities duties and powers of a territorial authority and a regional council in respect of the Rodney District. Clause 4 of the bill specifies that the Rodney District will retain the boundaries that it has had since the local government reorganisation in 1989. It will also retain its existing wards. Because of time constraints it is necessary to defer the local authority elections for Rodney for 1 year. There will be an election in 2011 to cover a 2-year period and triennial elections will resume in 2013. This is set out in clause 7 of the bill. Consequentially Rodney is excluded from the Auckland region and the new Auckland Council under this bill. 
The whole saga of Auckland governance has been a confused jumble and an unbelievably undemocratic process. Because of the Government’s mishandling of the decision making around Rodney’s inclusion in the Auckland super-city Labour believes that this bill should go to a select committee for a fair hearing. I state firmly that Labour supports the original boundaries as proposed by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance but in the interests of democracy— 
David Garrett 
: Democracy? 
DARIEN FENTON 
: I say to Mr Garrett that in the interests of democracy this bill should be given a fair hearing. That is because the Government has ignored the legitimate concerns of the people of Rodney and Rodney has not had a fair say on it. This is another chance for the Government to get this issue sorted out once and for all. 
This is a local bill promoted by the Rodney District Council which has been through all of the hoops required to get this bill to Parliament. If the member David Garrett does not understand what it has to do he should go and read up on it. The Rodney District Council and the media have repeatedly asked Rodney citizens whether they want to be part of the Auckland super-city and the answer has never changed from an emphatic no. A Colmar Brunton survey in April showed that for every person in Rodney who supports becoming part of the super-city two oppose it. The pattern of opposition is the same in the north the west and central Rodney as well as in the Hibiscus Coast. 
There are some differing views about this bill which reflect the results of the poll—one person in three does not agree. The Northern Action Group for example wants the boundaries changed to reflect the select committee’s original recommendation that the Rodney District should be divided in two with the boundary based on a line between the mouths of the Puhoi and Makarau rivers. It is fair to say that the council and the citizens of Rodney have sent a consistent message to the royal commission the select committee and their local National MPs that they want no part in the super-city. They have been saying consistently that Rodney’s future should not be decided in Queen Street instead of Warkworth Wellsford Matakana or Whangaparaoa. 
The Prime Minister the Minister of Local Government the Associate Minister of Local Government and local National MPs have given the people of Rodney false hope. They have repeatedly offered their support to this community and their community representatives telling them that they should make submissions and that they will respond to them. There was no response. They told the community they should trust the process to deliver the right result but I ask for whom will it be the right result. They told the community they should put in a petition and the Minister will receive it on the steps of Parliament. A petition was put in on the steps of Parliament; it had over 6000 signatures from the Northern Action Group and the Wellsford Community Group. The Minister Rodney Hide received it and then it disappeared. Rodney residents were told they could opt out via a reorganisation proposal but then the Government legislated to ban any reorganisation for the next 3 years. They even told the people of Rodney to get their council to put together a local bill. That is what the people of Rodney have done. Here is their local bill and the Government should be supporting it. 
Unfortunately I hear that more false hope is being generated and held out to the Northern Action Group with hints that another local bill to exclude north Rodney and join it to the Kaipara District Council would have every chance of success if it were not for this bill because this bill gets in the way. If that were true and it were that easy I have to ask why the Government did not support my amendment to exclude north Rodney when the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill was going through Parliament in June. It is true to say that the Government panicked over the north Rodney boundaries. Despite what the select committee report recommended on the second super-city bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill just 24 hours before the select committee brought the bill back to the House the Government did a complete flip-flop on John Carter’s decision and decided to bring the whole of Rodney in. John Key attempted to blame the decision on reports that he had received from select committee members. That was outrageous; one of his own Ministers was the chair. The fact is that the Government has dithered around on the issue has made the wrong call and has been forced to adopt the initial royal commission recommendation in the wake of widespread public outcry. 
Rodney District Council is doing exactly what councils should do. This council has gone to its people has asked what they want and is now reflecting that through this bill. This bill is the result of the democratic process required for local bills which is different from that of other bills and it should not be ignored. The Government has badly mishandled the creation of a super-city and the decision making on Rodney’s inclusion has been a fiasco. This bill is now the only option open to the people of Rodney District. 
This local bill is not perfect but it is the only democratic response left in a highly flawed and cynical National-ACT process. The people of Rodney have behaved honestly and honourably. They have been tricked and have been given false hopes. They have been sold out by the people whom they relied on to represent them in this Parliament. The people of Rodney District ask this House once more to let them determine their own future. I ask the House to please support their local bill.