Parker David:  
Parker David:  
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Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 I will first deal very briefly with the issue the Hon Bill English raised. He could be in his electorate today if the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill had been referred to a select committee. Labour has not offered just an ordinary select committee period; we have gone the extra yard and said we would truncate that select committee process to a very unusually short period in order to facilitate the passage of this legislation. The National Government will not agree to that. This forum is the only one in which we can protect the interests of New Zealanders—those in Auckland and those elsewhere—against this legislation. 
I will deal with the powers contained in Part 3 of the legislation which sets out the functions of the transitional authority the Auckland Transition Agency. But it is not explicit yet that the transition agency has any function in respect of advising on the form function and organisation of community boards or local councils. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Missing in action! 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: That is missing. The Minister has said he wants to have community boards. The Minister has said he wants the transition agency to reorganise things including those community boards. The provisions of the bill at present are silent on that matter in respect of community boards. If those provisions are absent in respect of community boards but those powers of the transition agency extend to community boards then it must be within the scope of amendments that Labour is putting forward to clear up that matter not just for community boards but also for local councils. 
What the legislation omits compared with what was recommended by the royal commission is any reference to local councils. So one of the amendments that Labour will be putting forward is to make it clear that the transition agency has the authority to deal with these issues both in respect of community boards—if the Government wants to go that way—and local councils. That authority is not currently mentioned in the legislation but I am interested to hear from the Government; from the Minister in the chair Mr Finlayson; or from members opposite whether they think that these transitional powers include the ability to make arrangements for the new community boards that are intended to sit under the Auckland Council. This is not yet clear but it is absolutely central to this bill. This bill takes the existing structure of Auckland’s governance does away with all the existing councils and creates the Auckland Council and the things that sit under it but it is not clear that the transition agency has the powers it needs. Labour will be putting forward amendments to that effect. 
I mention also what else needs to be controlled. At the moment Part 3 is unclear as to what the transition agency cannot do. That worries me. We are creating a new vehicle here that has 1.4 million voters. We are creating an Auckland Council that has a mayor with executive powers. This unprecedented concentration of powers—of the regional council the old district council the territorial authority plus executive powers—is being conferred through the new office of mayor who has executive powers. This organisation and the mayor—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member. A lot of interjections are going on that have nothing to do with the speech. Members should give their colleague a fair go. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Thank you Mr Chair. These powers need to be made clear so that future Governments—be they National-led Governments or Labour-led Governments—do not face the undesirable prospect of the Mayor of Auckland having so much power that he or she can effectively change the course of central government can cause Governments to fall and can cause Governments not to win elections and can do that along party political lines based on the prior affiliations of this new super-mayor. 
At present the powers of the transition agency are not so constrained as to create the office of the mayor with that breadth of powers and we in this Parliament ought to be concerned about it. That is one of the reasons why we as an Opposition are putting forward amendments to this Part of the bill in order to limit the powers of the transition agency but also to make it clear that it has powers in respect of community boards. The Government says it wants community boards but it is not yet clear under clause 13 of the bill that the transition agency has those functions. If it is implicit that the transition agency has that power then it must also be implicit that it can look at local councils I say to officials. 
One of the other problems we have with the clause is that there is no process for scrutiny or the involvement of others when it comes to the appointment of staff to the transition agency.