Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6559] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I want to set the record straight on a couple of points. First of all members opposite have said that the Government does not care about social issues. Well the Government strongly believes that the new Auckland Council has a fundamental responsibility to address social issues across the region and has announced the establishment of an Auckland Social Policy Forum. The membership if members opposite are not aware will comprise the new mayor the Minister for Social Development and Employment the council committee chairs and some representatives from the local boards. Members opposite need to give that forum a chance to work before they start to criticise it. It is being set up in good faith and let us see how it works. 
The other issue is about Asian and Pacific Island advisory bodies. The commentary on the bill has a substantial section on council engagement with communities. I will quote from it: “We suggest that advisers or advisory committees or bodies could be appointed to work alongside the Council particularly for youth Maori and other ethnic communities such as Pacific and Asian communities environmental groups and people with disabilities. We believe strong advisory bodies are needed to improve participation by these groups and to ensure that their voices are heard on issues affecting them.” I want to talk about the mayor but quite frankly if the new mayor is smart—and I am sure that the mayor will be very smart—he or she will take this sort of advice and will not ignore it. In fact the mayor will have to be quite an exceptional individual. I am sure he or she will be a very very strong leader and will have that vision to bring all the regions and people of Auckland together and that includes all those groups I just talked about. It is quite a responsibility. When the royal commission canvassed opinion and consulted widely it felt there was consensus that Aucklanders wanted one council. They were sick of traffic congestion and they wanted Auckland to move ahead as one so there was certainly consensus there. 
I felt I was very privileged to be part of the select committee that went to all the regions of Auckland listened to the submitters and heard their concerns and fears for the future. The individual who is chosen to be the Auckland mayor will I am sure step up and make sure those communities are well represented—because Aucklanders’ main concern was that they would be ignored and not represented. That was the common theme running through all the communities we visited around Auckland. Changes have been made between the original bill and the current bill that we have in front of us and those changes will allow the mayor to undertake the role more effectively. The mayor will be able to appoint the deputy mayor and the chairperson of the committees of the council determine the committees’ structure lead the development of plans policies and budgets for consideration by the council and establish and maintain the office of the council. In respect of that office the Auckland Governance Legislative Committee recommends that 0.2 percent of the council’s budgeted operational expenditure be set as a budget for that office. That will allow a significant amount of money between $2 million and $3 million to employ independent advisers and specialist advice. This was done so that the office of the mayor could have some independence and because we wanted to strike a balance between the power of the mayor and of the chief executive and we think we have done that with those particular changes. 
I have been quite disappointed to hear tonight comments that the local boards do not have powers. I know that members on this side have stood up and— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: They don’t. Read the bill. 
Dr JACKIE BLUE 
: They do have the power. I will tell the member what the local boards will be doing so I ask him to please listen. These local boards will not be the community boards that we have currently or the councils that we have currently. They will be new entities that will have power and status supported by this legislation. They will have significant responsibilities. The original bill has been changed significantly to beef up the powers of the boards. They will have dedicated budgets to provide for local services. They will be required to listen to and consult with their communities. The local boards will be required to make a plan and will be able to propose by-laws that provided they are truly local will be adopted. If appropriate the by-laws could even be enforced by the local boards. This is all about empowering local communities.