Clendon David: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Clendon David: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11471] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 I will make reference quickly to the spatial plan in clause 66 of the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill which we heard a little bit about earlier. I hope the member who referred to it will recall that the original document that went to the select committee suggested that the spatial plan should have a single purpose which was growth and development. That said something about the perception world view and preference of the people who drafted it. Growth and development stood alone in that key position in the spatial plan which is the 30-year long-term strategy. To suggest that nothing but growth and development should be the driving imperative of that entire enterprise would be catastrophic for Auckland and the region. We were reassured that never mind in other legislation there were references to social issues cultural issues and indeed the environmental outcomes of local governance and we could rely on that. But I am pleased to say that Green and Labour lobbying shall we say finally encouraged the drafters to insert specific provisions so that in future the spatial plan which is the overall overarching strategy for this new governance structure will need to consider social environmental and cultural issues as well as economic and other issues. That was such a blinding oversight of the original drafters that it almost defied belief. 
I mentioned earlier the loss of democracy that this bill entails. We are undoubtedly losing democracy in the larger sense. We are specifically losing our rights to propose a change to local body boundaries anytime between now and the next local body elections in 2013. The people of north Rodney in particular are seriously annoyed by that to the extent that they are considering trying to bring a local bill to Parliament in order to once again regain the right enjoyed by every other New Zealander to propose a reorganisation of boundaries. Aucklanders will not be able until after 2013 to propose changes to the electoral system a right that is enjoyed by every other New Zealander. So we have diminished rights and diminished opportunities to participate as citizens in a democratic society. 
Perhaps the cruellest cut of all is that we are getting less and will be paying more. We will pay a great deal more. Eighteen months or perhaps 2 years ago when this grand new vision of a new city and a new governance structure for Auckland was pronounced it was all about reducing rates. It was about efficiency cutting costs and stopping the inexorable rise of rates for people in the area. We have not heard so much of that language from the Minister of Local Government—and I apologise if we are keeping him awake. We have heard very little about that recently. The idea that this exercise will save anybody money seems to have dropped off the agenda and there is a very clear and obvious reason for that—it will not. There will not be savings for Auckland in the short term and it is very unlikely that there will be savings in the long term. There is nothing in this structure that suggests we will save money. 
It is extraordinary that by the Minister’s own admission there has not been a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis done of this entire project. The cost overall is a “suck it and see we’ll tell you at the end” figure except that nobody will ever know because the figures are not being kept. We heard a bit in the last few days about the costs associated with the transitional authority and we were reassured that they would come in on time and under budget. They must come in on time because the statutory requirement is that this new shaky structure must be in place on 1 November. As for under budget I doubt that very much. The costs that are being imposed the invisible but very real financial costs are already being picked up by councils and they will almost certainly go through to the pockets of ratepayers in the Greater Auckland area. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of costs in this exercise. No matter what alchemy or what smoke and mirrors anyone may endeavour to attach to the whole process the hard dollars will have to be spent. 
There is already an obvious human cost. The people working within the eight local authorities—the seven territorial local authorities and the regional authority—have been walking on egg shells for months wondering who will keep their job and who will lose it. We know there is an enormous amount of work that is being done that needs to be done. More work will be done from 1 November and there is a question about who will be there to do that work. We know already that some of the best and brightest employees of the councils have looked at the situation and simply turned their backs on it and walked away.