Hide Rodney: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hide Rodney: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6555] 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 I am very disappointed with Mr Shearer’s speech because he said that the Government has not been paying any attention or giving any regard to the amendments to the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill that have been put on the Table. I have to say that nothing could be further from the truth. We have gone through those amendments with a fine-tooth comb. What surprised us as a Government was how appalling those amendments are. I wish that Mr Shearer and indeed the movers of these amendments had studied them. For example the Hon George Hawkins—who was a very good mayor is a very good MP and was a very good Minister; I have high regard for him—popped down here with an amendment that must have been done by the research unit. I do not know whether Mr Shearer studied that one but Mr Hawkins wanted to shift the southern boundary of the super-city. He would shift it down to the Waikato River catchment boundary. I kid members not! It would have taken in all of Hamilton Taupo all of the national park and Tauranga. 
Chris Tremain 
: And Hawke’s Bay! 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: And Hawke’s Bay. Mr Shearer says that the Government has not taken any notice of these amendments. I have to tell him that I went to see Mr Hawkins and I said I had taken a great deal of interest in his amendment. He had to quickly pull it in the hope that Phil Goff his leader would not notice it and in the hope that Phil Twyford would not vote for it. Mr Shearer’s party the Labour Party proposed an amendment here tonight under urgency to put the upper half of the North Island into the super-city all the while campaigning that we are setting up the super-city by subterfuge and without involving the people. I ask Mr Shearer whom he consulted in Hamilton on its becoming a member of the super-city. Did George Hawkins have a meeting in Hamilton to discuss whether the people wanted it to be a member of the super-city? I do not think so. Did Phil Goff have a meeting in Taupo about whether the people would like it to be a member of the super-city? I do not think so.  
Mr Shearer walked into the Chamber and suggested that the Government had not studied the amendments that have been put up. That is piffle. He walked into the Chamber and said we have not been consulting with the people when with a cavalier attitude the Labour members were proposing an amendment sponsored by George Hawkins—heaven knows what he was thinking—to put the upper half of the North Island into the super-city. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. We are in the Committee stage of the bill. I know we are having a broad debate but the rules of the Committee are quite clear: the bill and the amendments that are on the Table should be debated. Amendments that are not on the Table are not debatable at this stage of the debate. They can be debated at the third reading. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Thank you. This matter has come up before. There has been wide debate on the particular subject the Minister is referring to. An amendment has been put up and he is responding to comments made. I am happy with that. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: I can understand why the Labour members do not want to debate their own amendments. They are so embarrassed that they are withdrawing their amendments; they then have the hit man Trevor Mallard saying that they do not want to talk about the amendments that are on the Table. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Were you listening to that? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I have ruled that the subject has been— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No to the comment the Minister made which I took offence to. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No I am sorry. What was it? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I took offence at the Minister’s description of me. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: I said he was a hit man. He has been convicted of it. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: The member has taken offence. I ask you to withdraw that comment. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: I withdraw it. Boy those members are sensitive about their own amendments! 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. We would like the Minister to withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No I asked the member to withdraw which he did. I did not ask him to apologise; I asked him to withdraw the comment. He did so. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Let me get this right. Mr Dave Shearer walked down to the Chamber and said that the Government was not taking Labour’s amendment seriously. I stood up here to discuss that amendment—having spent some private time with Mr Hawkins explaining why his amendment was wrong and why he withdrew it—but then Mr Mallard raised a point of order so that we cannot talk about Labour’s amendments. I have to say— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. 
Sandra Goudie 
: What now? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I think that member is affected. When points of order have been dealt with they are not allowed to be referred to. It has now happened four times. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: It would be absurd if having been granted leave for a wide-ranging debate we now found ourselves constrained only to matters that the Opposition thinks suitable for debate in the Committee stage. That is unacceptable. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I thank the member. As I have mentioned on two occasions now the amendment has been subject to debate during the course of the evening. An amendment was tabled and the Minister is responding to comments made by an Opposition member. I have ruled that to be in order. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I apologise if I did not make my point of order clear. I am not debating your ruling but the fact that the Minister is continuing to refer to it which is clearly outside Speakers’ rulings. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No I do not accept that Mr Mallard. An amendment has been tabled. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He is referring to your ruling and the point of order. He is not allowed to refer to them. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I have obviously missed the point. I apologise for that. Let us continue. The member has 47 minutes remaining. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Forty-seven minutes—thank you. I am just getting warmed up. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I can see that there was a faux pas on my part. The member has 47 seconds remaining. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Thank you. I think the point to make is that I and members on this side of the Committee—and indeed the country—had forgotten how cavalier Labour members are with the laws that they bring into Parliament. We had forgotten the lengths to which Labour members will go in order to shut down speech whether in the wider community or in the Chamber. They have come in here and said we are not addressing their amendments but then tried to shut down the debate. They have not learnt their lesson. A few more apologies are needed.