Sepuloni Carmel: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Sepuloni Carmel: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11539] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 Talofa lava malo le soifua. I am happy to take this call. I feel for my friend Mr Ross Robertson because he has been waiting for quite some time. I hope he gets the next call. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I will be the judge of that. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: I acknowledge the fact that in the Chamber at the moment we have eight Labour Auckland MPs. I think we had 12 a few minutes ago. I acknowledge the fact that Labour takes Auckland governance issues very seriously and we are here representing our constituents. I congratulate the two Auckland-based National MPs who are here in the Chamber. It is good that they are here to represent Auckland. It is good especially because they are not electorate MPs; they are both Auckland-based list MPs. It is great that they are here to represent the other Auckland-based National MPs who could not be here in the Chamber today to represent their constituents or to debate— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I think the member knows what I am raising the point of order about. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: I do. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: She will not offend again? 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: I will not. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: She might struggle to get a call if she does. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: My apologies Mr Chair. We take this issue very seriously and I will not talk about which Auckland MPs are here or which ones are not— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Ah-ah-ah! 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: —any more but I will talk about one of the issues we have been debating in the Committee which is the powers of the local boards. This issue has been contentious from the start. Our communities in Auckland have been apprehensive with regard to what powers the local boards will have and what this will mean for local communities in Auckland. We have talked earlier and we talked last night about the ethnic communities in terms of who the local boards will represent but our geographical communities are concerned that their local communities will not have any power to make decisions on their own behalf. Unfortunately we see that with what the National-ACT Government has come up with that is indeed the case. 
We see that the initial allocation of powers to the local boards has been undertaken by an unelected entity. Aucklanders are concerned that they are being shut out of the process and what is happening now only confirms their suspicion. It goes further to demonstrate the fact that their democratic right to have a say in what is happening and in the decision making that affects them has been taken away by the National-ACT Government. 
Rodney Hide promised that the local boards would be given certainty with regard to their powers. He failed to live up to his promise. Local boards have insufficient guarantees as to their functions powers and ability to influence the governing body and members on this side of the Chamber are very concerned about that. The Government rejected the royal commission’s recommendation to have six local councils of sufficient size capability and power to be an effective counterbalance to the new Auckland Council. The royal commissioners argued that to retain a strong community voice and active role in place shaping the local councils needed significant decision-making powers. The Government unfortunately rejected this model and replaced the royal commission’s local councils with local boards that have more in common with the current community boards. 
This policy choice by the Government has made the super-city model unbalanced with too much power in the centre and too little power with the community. Our communities in Auckland are concerned about the things that make them unique. The way in which the National-Act Government is now proposing to set up the structure takes away the local communities’ opportunity to be unique and to make decisions that serve their purposes serve the uniqueness of their community and allow them to demonstrate their uniqueness as communities as well. These concerns are ongoing. I know from going to meetings in the Waitakere electorate that people are really concerned about this because for many years they have been able to exercise what they call the Waitakere way. It is their unique way in which they undertake work and now they are asking what this change will mean. 
They are asking what it will mean if a certain person is elected as mayor or if right-wing councillors are elected to council. They ask whether that will mean they will be consumed by that right-wing ideology and will no longer be able to express themselves as unique Waitakere people as they have done in the past. This applies not only to Waitakere but also to other parts of Auckland. 
The principal differences between community boards and the new local boards are that the local boards exist by virtue of statute.