Kaye Nikki: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Kaye Nikki: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6413] 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 We have heard a lot about Maori representation today but I would like to focus on the matter of the local boards of Auckland Council. They are at the heart of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill and I think it is really important that we start looking at some of the provisions that relate to them. You see Labour members have stood up today and confirmed that they support a unitary authority but the Labour Party has shifted significantly in terms of the number of local boards it wants. Mr Twyford came out at the beginning of the process and said Labour wanted six to 12 but when Labour members started to go around the communities of Auckland they realised that actually the only party that was campaigning to get rid of communities by advocating six to 12 local boards was in fact the Labour Party. Many members on the opposite side of the Chamber—and I know this for a fact—then said to their members on the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee that there was no way they would support having only six to 12 local entities. So Labour members changed their position and moved to advocating 10 to 12. They shifted further—they wanted 14 to 20 boards and that is the position in the report. 
I have a question for Mr Hawkins who is sitting in the back row opposite. There is a campaign within Papakura called “Save Papakura”. Under the Labour Party model we do not know whether Papakura would have a local board. So Mr Hawkins will have to stand up and defend the Labour Party’s position with regard to local boards. I believe that the Labour Party supports having a unitary authority and close to 20 local boards. If Labour actually supports only 14 boards then I would like some of the Labour members across the Chamber to stand up and say whether they support 14 or 20. But you know we will not hear that because Labour members support having 20 local boards. So we are here on a historic day for Auckland and the members opposite actually support the majority of this legislation. Labour does have some issues with a few things such as Maori representation but Labour members rather than supporting the legislation they actually believe in—for an event people have been waiting for for 50 years—prefer to sit on the sideline and not support this bill a bill that will be good for Auckland. 
The other major inconsistency in the Labour Party’s position is around the number of councillors. In Labour’s minority report which I will quote back to them they say they are concerned and would like to have more councillors so that they represent smaller areas. How does that match Labour’s local board policy? It is totally inconsistent. We are hearing inconsistency from the opposite side of the Chamber and that is why this debate is dragging on. People listening are hearing about everything but the majority of the content of the bill. Labour members have travelled around Auckland and realised that the writing is on the wall. There are many communities that want to be represented and want local boards and Labour members have realised they had to shift their position. Labour members want a unitary authority and their minority report is filled with inconsistencies like their position on councillors. I will stop talking about the Labour Party because I think everyone knows that Labour members are standing up and opposing this bill for political reasons only not because of what is best for Auckland. 
This is a historic day for Auckland. National and ACT have listened. We have gone to the people of Auckland and listened to them in a 2-year process that was started by the previous Government. To those members opposite who argue that there should be a referendum I say that the royal commission said that that would be a very superficial thing to happen. We have spent 2 years debating this. We have an 800-page report; 3500 submissions went to the royal commission; and 2500 submissions have been received by the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. What would it have taken for the Labour Party to actually make a decision on this? Well it would not have made a decision. Labour members are indecisive. That has been shown by their consistently shifting position regarding the number of local boards. It is shown by their inconsistent position on the number of councillors. Labour did not have the guts to make a decision in the 9 years it spent in Government. National is here and it is making a decision. Yes it is very hard. Issues of Maori representation are very hard. Yes we may not get it completely right. But there have been 2 years of consultation and a lot of money has been spent.