Kedgley Sue:  
Kedgley Sue:  
[Volume:654;Page:60] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 I would like to start by drawing attention to some of the more insidious provisions in Part 3. In case the people of Auckland have not had the opportunity to look at the fine print of this legislation I draw their attention to a couple of provisions that I think they ought to be very concerned about. 
The first one is that clause 11(1) provides that the Auckland Transition Agency must have a chairperson and no fewer than 2 people on it. So the agency that is going to run Auckland for the next 18 months need only have a “gang of three” plus Rodney Hide which makes a “gang of four”—and that seems to me entirely appropriate. The previous speaker Mr Cunliffe was suggesting various names for the agency but I think “Gang of Four” is appropriate. Three men accountable only to Rodney Hide will—with Rodney Hide—be running Auckland for the next 4 years. As somebody said earlier it is no wonder Roger Douglas has come back to Parliament. It was a mystery why Roger Douglas suddenly came out of retirement to come back to Parliament. Now we understand because the hand of Roger Douglas is all over this; he and Rodney will be able to have their “gang of three” running Auckland. Obviously that is exactly what they have been planning. One of the odd things about the detail of this is that ordinarily appointments are made by a Cabinet committee but in this case the appointment is directly made by Rodney Hide and the members are accountable only to Rodney Hide. So he and his “gang of three” will be running Auckland. 
The second one is that under clause 13(1)(e) this agency will “provide information to the public of Auckland or any section of that public as it thinks fit”. Has anyone ever seen those last four words in legislation before our Parliament? The agency will divulge information “as it thinks fit”—when it can be bothered when it suits it. Those four little words—that the agency will divulge information “as it thinks fit”—that are slipped in there mean that those running the agency can conceal and keep secret everything that they are up to including the budget of this entity. 
The next thing that should alarm Aucklanders and actually all New Zealanders is the fact that under clause 20(1)(b)—and I think many people would not believe it—the agency the “gang of four” can review any item on the agenda for any meeting of any organisation. So for any meeting of any of the eight councils of Auckland or any meeting of any committee or any subsidiary the agency can review the agenda and if the agency decides that an item might have a significant negative impact on the governance of Auckland the agency can tell the organisation not to have that agenda item. What is the point of this if not to suppress any dissent that may arise in Auckland over the next 18 months? I have to say that this attempt by the “gang of four” to suppress agenda items is not going to work. There will be so much dissent in the next 18 months by Aucklanders that that provision will not be able to suppress it. 
The next alarming thing concerns the costs of this transition. The Labour Party has estimated that it will cost every ratepayer in Auckland about $750 each to implement it. Initially the legislation makes it look as though as the cost will be paid for by the Crown as a debt but then we come to a little clause clause 27 which states that all the debt—all the money that the transition will cost—will become a liability of the Auckland Council once the Auckland Transition Agency has been wound up. Once the “gang of four” has wound up its work it will leave the people of Auckland and future generations an enormous debt. Aucklanders will incur this debt for having had democracy taken away from them and destroyed. 
Then we have the laundry list—the long list of things that the “gang of four” can review.