Sepuloni Carmel: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sepuloni Carmel: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 24 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:9780. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 First it was Aucklanders being denied a real say in the set up of the super-city. Now it is mining in their backyards that is being imposed on them against their will. 
The problem is that this Government has no ability whatsoever to listen. I will give an example of that. In a recent edition of the  
Hauraki Herald 
 there was an article that quoted one of National’s highest-calibre MPs—everyone on that side of the House wants to be like her—Sandra Goudie. There was a quote from her saying that she was unaware of opposition to the prospect of more mining in her electorate and that she believed that any concerns had been generated by political opponents. The fact that a National Party MP particularly the one who is the member for Coromandel is unaware of any opposition to mining goes a long way to showing how much that Government does not listen. That member only had to read the newspapers or listen to the radio to hear opposition to mining. That member would not have got it from the local group though because it also said in the paper that Coromandel Watchdog spokesperson Denis Tegg said that his group did not bother voicing concerns about mining issues to Mrs Goudie who he described as a very minor backbencher. He said that the people there had made a decision not to talk to her because it is a waste of time and energy. I think that is what a lot of Aucklanders are thinking at the moment not just about Mrs Goudie but also about a lot of Auckland MPs on that side of the House— 
John Hayes 
: Especially the Westies. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: That includes the one from Wairarapa Mr Hayes. 
At the other end of the spectrum we have National Party MPs in our newspapers not knowing the policies of their party. They are coming out and saying that they disagree with what their party is advocating for. We on this side of the House cannot work out whether Nikki Kaye did not know the values of the National Party before she became a politician or whether she has worked out that Auckland Central’s values do not align with the National Party and now she is trying to look different from what the National Party is putting out. That is something we are still trying to understand. 
Regarding the mining issue it has come up time and again that the Government is not listening. It is not listening not just with mining but also with what has been happening with the super-city. The hidden agendas that exist on that side of the House have also come out. There are hidden agendas that go back 2 or 3 years and are only beginning to surface at the moment. We have seen hidden agendas around privatisation with that Government over there. We have seen the hidden agenda of mining even in the electorate of Waitakere. Two years ago the MP for Waitakere Paula Bennett referred to the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill as confiscation by stealth as did Nick Smith. When Nick Smith and Paula Bennett went riding into Waitakere they said that they wanted the Waitakere Ranges to be a national park. I repeat: Nick Smith and Paula Bennett wanted the Waitakere Ranges to be a national park. Now that a few years have gone by we can look back and wonder whether national parks were what they really wanted when they went there or did they just want to dig them up? Perhaps Nick Smith and Paula Bennett had the possibility in the backs of their minds of digging up the Waitakere Ranges in a ploy to mine in that area too. 
I have to commend our spokesperson for Auckland Issues Phil Twyford for the wonderful job he did regarding the super-city legislation. He continues to hold that side of the House the Government to account with the legislation it is putting through. That legislation is not only the corporatisation of our democracy but also the local being taken out of local government. We saw a shambolic process with regards to the consultation that occurred. Aucklanders are not silly. They are not happy with the National Government. Some of the comments I heard while I was on the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee were quite offensive to Aucklanders. I think it was Mr Bridges who said while we were taking submissions “Who cares about 900 submissions on the super-city?”.