Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3250] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I was going to start my speech by referring to the first of the many amendments that Labour will be introducing but first I will address the comments just made by the Minister in the chair Rodney Hide. I thank him for taking a call. All too often when we go into urgency we see National Government Ministers sitting in that chair like a dried arrangement—not getting up not saying anything and not doing anything. It is good to have a Minister in the chair who is prepared to take a call and to address the concerns. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Get on with your speech! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: This is my speech. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: It’s rubbish. Get on with the good bit. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Mr Brownlee can say that it is rubbish; he has just come into the Chamber. He is obviously very keen to get out of here tonight. He is reading the newspaper. I say to Mr Brownlee that if he wants to keep interjecting on me I will keep responding to him. I am quite happy to do that. But he is obviously very upset that we pointed out that Rodney Hide is prepared to take a call. I hope that he will stand up and address the issues of concern that are being raised. Once again we have— 
Paul Quinn 
: Have you only got two sentences? You’ve already said that. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: I say it because I believe it. 
Paul Quinn 
: So you go round and round? 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Yes; that is fine. We can keep having this conversation. 
Paul Quinn 
: If you say it long enough you will convince yourself. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: That is fine. We can keep having this conversation I say to Mr Quinn. I am quite happy. Anyway I restate how happy we are that the Minister in the chair is prepared to take a call. We hope he will take more calls on this. 
Once again here we are in urgency and the Government is ramming through a piece of legislation that will not be going to a select committee and will not have a public process associated with it. Let us remind ourselves that during the election campaign the National Party promised Aucklanders that it would consult on the royal commission’s report. But National has not done that so I hope the Minister will take a call on that issue. 
My colleague Chris Hipkins referred to the comments made by the Minister in the chair Rodney Hide that the royal commission report contained heavy-duty recommendations that were carried through. I think it is important that we understand how the Minister came to decide which regulations were heavy-duty and which could be dispensed with. 
Clearly Labour members have stated that we support the unitary council but we believe that Aucklanders have the right to be consulted on that issue. When the Minister in the chair took his call he also referred to the fact that the select committee process is the consultation that Government members have been referring to. But maybe the Minister in the chair is not aware of the fact that this legislation will not be referred to a select committee. He should have been alerted to that by the fact that we moved to the second reading right after the first reading. That would have been his first clue that this piece of legislation had not been referred to a select committee. But clearly that did not tip him off so perhaps the Minister in the chair might want to take a call and clarify what he meant when he said that the consultation on this bill was the select committee process when in fact there will be no select committee process. That is a shameful thing. I note also that there is no regulatory impact statement with this legislation. I wonder what the Minister for Regulatory Reform would say about that. I look forward to the Minister in the chair who I believe has a close personal relationship with the Minister for Regulatory Reform actually addressing that issue. We find ourselves once again in urgency with no select committee process for a bill that is being rammed through. The people of Auckland are not having their say. 
Nikki Kaye 
: They have had their say. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: How have they had their say? [ 
Interruption 
] Nikki Kaye says that the fact that there were 500 oral submissions and 3500 written submissions means 1.4 million Aucklanders have had their say. I ask Nikki Kaye to stand up and take a call—and stop yelling at me—and tell this Committee why she promised along with the National Party during the election campaign that National would consult Aucklanders on the royal commission report before it did anything. I ask Nikki Kaye when she did that. Those members cannot answer that because the fact is that they did not consult. It is a broken election promise. Nikki Kaye can keep interjecting on me and I will keep responding to her but the fact is that she is a lion in Wellington and a mouse in Auckland. I challenge her to go and make those comments in Auckland. She should go to South Auckland and repair some of the damage done by Melissa Lee last night. She should go to South Auckland and give the speech she is giving in this Committee with the comments she is making in Auckland because Auckland members from National are big and brave when they are in the confines of Parliament in Wellington—big and brave. The fact is that Aucklanders were promised— 
Paul Quinn 
: You’re a bit of a mouse in Gisborne. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: I am not a mouse in Gisborne and I am happy to stand according to that. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I call the Hon David Carter—sorry John Carter.