Street Maryan: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStreet Maryan: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13588. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour): It gives me pleasure to rise to speak to the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2). I want to pick up on a comment that the Hon Phil Heatley made earlier where he said he wondered why people on this side of the House were so angry about a piece of legislation on which we all agree. Well clearly we are not angry about the piece of legislation. We would not be agreeing with it if we were. I do not think anybody is naturally angry which is what he was suggesting. Being naturally angry requires far too much energy for most people. I think when people are angry there is always a reason for it. When the buttons of local democracy in Auckland are pushed the members opposite will always get an angry response.It should be no puzzle to the Hon Phil Heatley. When local government matters come up the dissension the discontent and the riding roughshod over democratic process that is the hallmark of this Government comes to the fore. It should not be any surprise to the Government. We have seen it do it in Christchurch. We have seen it do it in Auckland. This should be no surprise. When local government representation is denied to people in the usual way then they do get upset. People do get upset. We have been upset by it and it should be no surprise if we start to sound angry about people having their democratic rights and their ability to participate taken away. So let us just settle that one.There is a perfectly good reason why members on this side of the House who come from Auckland do express anger about it. Having lived for nearly 30 years in Auckland I feel the same way. But as I am no longer a representative from the Auckland area but from Nelson I will give over that right to my colleagues who still reside there.What I wanted to say apart from happy Suffrage Day to you Mr Deputy Speaker is that I am delighted in some of the early comments on the purpose of the bill. We know that it amends the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act to enable local boards to delegate responsibilities and duties and powers conferred on them under the Act. Currently they are able to delegate those powers. This provision is in the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Fees and Charges Regulations 2010 but those regulations expire on 31 October this year.Just a few weeks ago I was in this House berating the Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges for the complete ineptitude—in fact it was not his piece of legislation but he was carrying it at the time. It was Gerry Brownlee’s Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill where regulations had been disallowed had been reintroduced had had a disallowance motion put on them again but I had withdrawn that disallowance motion because legislation was to come into the House in time for regulations that would see a rolling-over of an existing condition. That all happened out of time. Gerry Brownlee did not get one of those deadlines right and as a result we were passing the legislation weeks after the time the regulations had actually expired. I would like to congratulate the Hon Chris Tremain on getting it right and perhaps he could show the Hon Gerry Brownlee how it is done.The purpose of this bill is that it amends the original Act to put those powers of delegation into the Act itself. Instead of having it just as regulation this bill will amend the primary legislation. That is what Gerry Brownlee should have done but did not. He chose not to or was too lazy to or did not know he had to or for some other reason—all of which comes down to incompetence in the end.Chris Tremain has done the right thing. The bill amends the Act before the regulations expire on 31 October. Whoopee! The Government has got it right. It has got the sequence right and that is one of the reasons why I am absolutely delighted to support this bill. This means that the Act itself which becomes effective from 1 November 2013 will be effective the day after the transitional regulations expire which is great. That is as it should be. And it has been brought to the House for debate. So full marks to Chris Tremain. Go and tell your senior colleagues how it is done. Thank you.