Hughes Darren: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hughes Darren: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6531] 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
: 
 Thank you very much for the chance to participate in the debate. When the history of the literary world is written up it may well put Shakespeare and Wordsworth together but I do not think Calder will be the other part of the contribution of that particular trio. It is always good to count the clichés the member uses in his speeches; now we are down to counting the number of times he uses alliteration as part of a very clever speaking device that he was obviously taught at some toastmasters club that is long since defunct. 
One of the points the National-ACT Government has been making in this debate is that this legislation is about having better decision-making for Auckland. The Associate Minister of Local Government the Hon John Carter said earlier that it was important that parties did not jump on bandwagons. But as I have sat here for hour after hour listening to this debate it is very clear that this bill has not been put together in a way that promotes better decision-making at all. Every single stage of the legislative process for Auckland governance has been done under urgency. We do not have a written constitution in New Zealand so when it comes to local government for Auckland our biggest city it is a pretty major deal for members of Parliament to be debating and voting on. We have some areas we agree on and lots we disagree on but we would all agree that this is pretty important stuff. Yet the Government which says this measure is about better decision-making has rushed every single step of it through under urgency. 
The Government set up a select committee. That is where the legislature gets to scrutinise legislation put forward by the executive. What was National’s approach to that? It was to appoint a Minister of the Crown who is the Associate Minister for the portfolio to which this bill relates as the chairperson of the select committee. Apparently that is because it is all about better decision-making. This is meant to be all about better decision-making so we have had urgency urgency urgency and a Minister of the Crown running the select committee process. 
Then this bill came back to the House and the Leader of the House said: “We will not do this under urgency again because we know that we have been criticised for not listening.” And what are we doing now? We are sitting on this bill under urgency. 
We heard that at the select committee the National members went out of their way to make submitters feel that they were being listened to. Those members told everyone that they were welcome and said how important their work was and how interesting their issues were and all of those submitters went away thinking that they had been listened to by National. Yet there is not a single change on the issues of substance in this bill because of what the submitters have said. 
Nikki Kaye 
: That’s wrong. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: What has happened instead is that members like the member for Auckland Central Nikki Kaye have proved that great Mike Moore line of politics: “Sincerity is everything. If you can fake it you’ve got it made.” That is what those members have done. On all of these issues they have not been able to deliver for the people of Auckland like they were meant to do. 
Let us take just the issue of Maori seats. We were told this week that after the select committee process was hijacked over the Maori seats and the boundary issue the boundary issue lasted 10 to 12 days. Ironic that because that is how long Cabinet took to consider the decision of the royal commission. We were asked to believe that Cabinet read an 800-page report in 12 days. I know that Mr Quinn is capable of that but none of the other members opposite are. Within 10 to 12 days the boundary issue which had been hijacked was all back on again for some people. It was all on again for the people of Rodney. I think that they have an effective member of Parliament who could twist the Government’s arm. The member of Parliament who apologised on the radio this morning is not so good. 
Why was the issue of Maori seats not revisited in the same way that the boundary issue was? I remember that when Hone Harawira spoke in the first debate on Auckland governance we had under urgency he could not wait to put the boot into Labour over the amendments that we had put forward on the Maori seats. He said that it was terrible because we had to put Maori seats together with other forms of representation. Even though it was explained privately to him that it was the only procedural thing we could do he then went and attacked Labour again after he had that information. He diminished himself enormously in my eyes at that point. 
The speeches that the Maori Party has given greasing up to the National Government and putting the boot into Labour along with the Greens—the only parties that have stood up for this issue consistently from day one—have been a disgrace because National has shown that it will back down on issues. It backed down on the boundary issue and the Maori Party has not been able to convince it on the Maori seats issue. But apparently that is all Labour’s fault according to the Maori Party speaker. It is a disgrace the way that Maori Party members have been putting forward that view. 
The Green Party with only nine MPs and 6 percent of the vote has given more speeches in this debate than has the National Government with 58 seats and 44 percent of the vote. That is what has been happening in this debate. The Green Party has outdone National on that. 
Phil Twyford 
: Lazy Government. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: It is absolutely a lazy Government. Half the National members who are directly affected by the matters in this legislation have not bothered to take a call. National said that it was ambitious for New Zealand and that it would listen but it has not even bothered. We have Pansy Wong who spent 12 years in this House as a list member. She was desperate to become an electorate member—good on her she became the member for Botany at the last general election—but she sat in the Chamber while we debated whether there should be a board for Asian Aucklanders to be represented on the council and she did not say a single word. 
This legislation is not about better decision-making or about bringing people together. What this is about is good old-fashioned power where National members are trying to put together a deal for themselves and ignore the substance of the issues that have been put forward by Labour. Those members just do not care about Auckland.