Bridges Simon: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
Bridges Simon: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:8562] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 This bill is great news for the people of Auckland and I will tell members why. We are almost there. We are almost at the beginning of the future for the city of Auckland. We are almost at the beginning of the future which means that Auckland will be a first-class international city as a result of the changes that this Government and its coalition partners have made. 
The immediate goal is the election on 1 November 2010. That will be very good indeed. From that day on there will be no more late-night texting from Andrew Williams. In fact I cannot guarantee that but I am pretty confident that there will be quite a strong victory for citizens and ratepayers. We know that Labour will not do well. Labour does not even know what it is doing in the seat of Waitakere. It has Darien Fenton on one side Phil Twyford in the middle and Carmel Sepuloni on the other side; I ask members not to picture that. Labour members do not know what they are doing so I am predicting that citizens and ratepayers will do well. 
But that is the short term the transitory stage; it is not the long term. The big picture here the thing we need to keep our eye on is the prize. As we speak in this debate and as we go back to the select committee and let the people have another say—and they have loved having a say so far—we need to keep in mind that the prize is a first-class First World city in this country. Our biggest city where most people choose to live will be a First World city. The basis for this is an effective regional governance model where we have regional matters at the top and strong local representation. That will be excellent. There is no question that under a unified Auckland we can see a much better governance structure. 
We will have a single council with the ability to get things done. We have not had that in Auckland and Jackie Blue spoke eloquently about that. We have not had that for at least and probably more than 50 years which is longer than George Hawkins has been a member of Parliament. We have not had that for a very long time but I think that the single council the unified Auckland we are getting—and this bill is the last step towards that; we are almost there—will give us the makings of a world-class city. I am not so naive as to think that we can change the governance structure of the council and it will automatically equal growth and a world-class city but it will certainly remove an impediment that has been there for a very long time. 
Phil Twyford 
: You haven’t actually read the bill have you? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: It is the kind of impediment that Phil Twyford likes—“Fill-in Phil” who as I said will be crying into his pillow each night when he thinks about all the policy work he has been doing for the Labour Party while the ladies in that party slap him one. I do not think there is actually a lady in this House at the moment on the Labour side who has not given Phil Twyford a good slapping. 
This bill is the beginning of the future. We are almost there. This is great news for the city of Auckland. I am looking forward—I hope—to being on the select committee as we do something historic and make the beginnings of a first-class First World city.