Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central): I move That the House take note of local issues. E te Māngai tēnā koe tēnā koutou e te Whare. In the midst of the Omicron outbreak in early 2022 I canvassed local groups in Auckland Central about what services were at risk for our structurally marginalised communities if the pandemic ripped through volunteer teams. Collaborating with Sunday Blessings and the Student Volunteer Army we established the Omicron resilience team to ensure that hot meals and advocacy support continued to get to those people experiencing homelessness and hard times. Eventually we ended up getting a small council grant to formalise the structure the network that that underpinned and established the Ellen Melville Centre community hub for the fortnight from the devastating Auckland Anniversary floods through Cyclone Gabrielle.It took days for Auckland Emergency Management to realise that this was even happening. In crises our systems are tested in rapid speed. We see what works and what doesn't and we saw what worked; it was the community.Our political institutions are supposed to reflect and represent and support our communities—those communities; all of us. It is why it was so galling that in the wake and recovery of that climate change - charged destruction Auckland Council's annual budget went out for consultation proposing to decimate resources for community climate arts environment culture transport homelessness and social services. We are talking about permanent cancellation of more than 1000 buses a day while also increasing fares; ripping out a third of our bins in public parks; permanently closing 32 citizens advice bureaus which were also on the front line throughout that flooding; 10 Kauri Kids early childhood centres. We're talking about the gutting of our libraries the slashing of water infrastructure upgrades of arts and cultural programmes that chopping of local board discretionary spending and so many more brutal cuts alongside the sale of our assets.This is not business as usual and it shouldn't be treated as if it is. The budget proposal is in fact contrary to every foundational and widely consulted policy plank underpinning Auckland Council like the 30-year Auckland Plan like the climate plan and the City Centre Masterplan. This is the most significant and austere local government budget in my lifetime. That cannot be emphasised enough especially in a House where approximately a third of the seats are made up by Tāmaki-makau-rau - based MPs. Think about a parochial version of the 1984 austerity budget.And our communities? Well they're not happy. So off the back of coordinating flooding and cyclone support rehousing people and coordinating resources our communities once again organised. We saw in record submissions the most ever on any annual budget to the super-city council here on the slash-and-burn budget. The crystal-clear majority of 51 percent of Aucklanders who submitted do not support cuts to regional services. At least 54 percent supported either the council taking on greater debt greater rates or both.These cuts cannot stand. I think it's really important to note that a different future is entirely possible that different forms of political leadership are entirely possible. Auckland Council could for example follow suit if the leadership demonstrated here in Pōneke Wellington by Mayor Tory Whanau who is confronting the reality of infrastructural deficit and meeting community needs with a proposed 13 percent rates increase—or less than the cost of a cup of coffee per household per week. There's also been proposals from the likes of A Better Budget For Auckland and many other community organisations. A different future is possible because it turns out that austerity is expensive especially for those in our communities who can afford it the least. Our communities will not continue to allow the privatisation of profit and the socialisation of cost—the deficit politics which rips the heart out of our cities and out of our services.Mayor Wayne Brown knows full well my intention to continue campaigning on this. I really look forward to continued engagement with MPs across this House because once again I must say there are 40 of us who are based in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland. I also think it's critical to note to councillors—Auckland councillors who may be watching—that we are watching and we are looking forward to their leadership for Aucklanders.