Robertson H V Ross: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Robertson H V Ross: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6505] 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON (Labour—Manukau East) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou. No reira e te Whare. We are talking this evening about local boards. “Democracy a pipe dream when all roads lead to Rome”; let me just quote that headline because I think it aptly sums up exactly where we are at when it comes to the issue of local boards and the powers that they will have. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Your printer’s broken; you’ve missed a bit out! 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: No it is not I say to Mr Brownlee. The printer is exactly right. The article starts by saying: “Maybe I’m being excessively pessimistic but it looks as though the proposed 20 to 30 local boards in the new Auckland Super City will be little more than part-pressure valves part-whipping boys for the Auckland Council proper.” 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Who said that? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: I have not finished yet. The article continues: “The parliamentary select committee has tried to paint a picture of busy little councils dotted around the region happily governing their semi-autonomous fiefdoms at arm’s length from the sway of the emperor-mayor and his council. But wherever you look in their report all roads inevitably lead back to Rome. Rome controls the purse strings. Rome can also overrule any local decision that contradicts regional policy.” 
That is where we on this side of the Chamber—the loyal Labour Opposition—have a difference of opinion with the Government and its support parties. Why? Because we do not trust what might happen to those regions that do not have the economic clout or the voice to stand up for them. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: What’s that got to do with Rome? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: Just wait a bit I say to Mr Henare. In my electorate I now represent people from both Manukau City and Auckland City. When I took over the Auckland part of the electorate Otahuhu I learnt just how differently councils treat their most vulnerable people. We had free swimming pools in Manukau City and I was stunned to find that when I walked over the border into Auckland City and looked at Otahuhu I found it did not have a swimming pool I say to Mr Hughes. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: What? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: It did not have a swimming pool. No it did not. Otahuhu did not have a swimming pool. That says to me that different councils treat their most vulnerable people differently. 
I worry about what will happen when Manukau City is swallowed up into the larger Auckland City. If Auckland City had treated its ratepayers in Otahuhu in the way that Manukau City treated its ratepayers then Otahuhu would have had a swimming pool. I have heard the Minister in the chair the Hon John Carter make mention of this issue and say the boards will be able to do those sorts of things. But we on this side of the Chamber are worried about that because how much power will the local boards really have? I cannot hear Mr Carter; I ask him to say it again. How much power is there? 
Hon John Carter 
: Heaps. 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: He tells me that it is heaps. I will hold Mr Carter to that statement that the boards will have heaps of power. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. The member for Manukau East is making a very fine contribution but he is being interjected on by Hone Harawira who looks very comfortable there on the National Government front bench. He looks as though he is pretty keen to be there but I think that he has moved from his seat for the purposes of interjecting right across on Mr Robertson. I think notwithstanding Tau Henare’s new home that that is just not fair on Mr Robertson. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I do not need any help with this matter. I thought that the interjections were rare sometimes reasonable and occasionally witty—which is rare in this place—and that Mr Robertson was making his point very well and even getting responses out of the Minister in the chair. I thought that the debate was moving along quite nicely. I invite Mr Robertson to continue with his fine oratory about the swimming pool in South Auckland. I am engrossed. 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: Thank you Mr Chairman. I can remember sitting in the particular position where you are now and I am grateful to the Hon Darren Hughes for raising the point of order to note that Mr Hone Harawira has moved in order to facilitate interjections. 
But putting that aside let us get back to the issue of the swimming pools I say to Mr Carter because that is where I as a local member of Parliament have a real concern. I have witnessed it firsthand. I have seen how the people of Otahuhu are treated under the current Auckland City Council and I can judge that. I have been a member of Parliament for 22 years now with most of them spent in the Manukau East electorate and I am still here. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: How long? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: I have vast experience I say to Mr Brownlee— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: No way you’ve been a member of Parliament that long! 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: —over the same length of time as Mr Williamson. We both came in together; it was a good vintage that year. But in South Auckland we have a real concern over the issue of ratepayer funding for swimming pools because Otahuhu has been left out. It has been hung drawn and quartered. We led a protest march in Otahuhu the first in many many years and what happened? It was totally ignored. It was totally ignored by the Auckland City Council. If the council does that to Otahuhu now what will it do when it controls all of Auckland? 
We have a real concern for the people whom we represent: the most vulnerable in our society.