Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6383] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Earlier Mr Tau Henare talked about “a journey”. To continue on that analogy the National Government has used the— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: The journey. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: The member talked about “the journey”. The National Government has used the term “roadway to recovery” as an analogy. If the Auckland Council structure is the vehicle to take the Auckland region forward then we need a vehicle that can fit everybody in. If it is a canoe then we need everybody to be paddling in the same direction. But we hear from the other side of the Chamber about a bicycle. How many people fit on a bicycle? One. I also heard the member for Tauranga say that the Government is listening. If it was really listening then we would not be rushing this bill through under urgency. If it was really listening we would not have dealt with the first Auckland local government reorganisation bill under urgency. That bill snuffed out the life of eight local territorial authorities. If it was really listening it would have heard the voices of the thousands of Aucklanders who marched to downtown Auckland in support of Maori seats. If it was really listening we would not be flip-flopping on Rodney boundaries at the eleventh hour. After all the community efforts to prepare submissions and to take time off work to speak to the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee all we have from this Government is flip-flops back-downs and Cabinet-level tantrums. 
If the Government was listening it would have heard the resounding voices of Aucklanders who are not happy that the Government is listening only to the Minister of Local Government—who represents a party with less than 4 percent support from this nation and who seems to have so much influence on this National Government—and not to the voices of the rest of Aucklanders who will be affected by the changes that are being brought about. The Mayor of North Shore says Rodney Hide’s super-city is a “time bomb set to explode grassroots democracy”. Aucklanders were promised their big chance to have a say; Aucklanders were promised that they would be listened to but the only person the National Government seems to be listening to is Mr Hide the Minister of Local Government. Aucklanders have said and members of the select committee will have heard that that is not right. They have said it is not right that a member of a party that has such small support on a national level should have so much influence. They have likened it to the dog’s tail wagging its head. I say to Aucklanders who are listening—[ 
Interruption 
] OK. 
So what is happening? Significant change processes are now occurring on a number of fronts; I believe they will ultimately prove unsustainable. Franklin is split in two with Waiuku in and Pukekohe out and I have been told that if Franklin is split in two then one side of a street will belong to the Auckland super-city and the other side will belong to the Waikato region. If people on the latter side of the street need resource consent they will have to travel an hour and a half to Hamilton to try to get that consent. 
Representation on the Auckland Council is undercooked: 20 councillors to represent 1.4 million people is a nonsense in the local government sense especially with around 30 local community boards with subsidiary status to the council including subsidiary status to the Auckland Transport Agency and to Watercare Services. The agency in particular will be a very powerful organisation. It will hold sway over the boards and I suspect the Auckland Council. I believe that the Government has replaced democracy with powerful bureaucratic institutions and I cannot see an employee of the Auckland Transport Agency fully listening to the members of the Mangere local board on an issue of some roading maintenance on one of our local streets without some ultimate political sanction from the council way down on Queen Street. 
I have heard the Minister in the chair Mr John Carter say that the local boards have been given powers. That is right; we were at the select committee. The beauty of the select committee report is that to some extent it reflects what the community was saying. It includes a minority report from the Labour Party and it includes a minority report from the Green Party but the difficult thing for most Aucklanders to accept is that although the report might reflect to a large extent what was submitted by them it does not align with the ultimate bill that this Government has put forward. Ultimately the local boards do not have those powers unless the Auckland Council grants them to them. There is no funding that is not dependent on what the council delivers. There is no staff unless the Auckland Council says it is OK. We have not even decided what those boundaries are other than what is already in the bill. 
I come back to the issue of consultation. The word for consultation in Samoa is “soalaupule” which if one were to translate it literally means “to share authority” or “to share power”. There is an expectation from Aucklanders when the Government says it is listening that it is hearing what Aucklanders are saying. I do not believe that this Government has actually taken the time to listen to the words that have been said. It said it would listen—that is good; that is part of consultation—but then it went and did what it wanted to do in the first place. It has flip-flopped around because some of its major supporters were not happy. Actually maybe they were not supporters; when I asked the Hon John Carter whether he was aware that the people who are most irate about this proposal were National’s supporters he said that they were not its supporters but rather its members. They are National Party members who are not happy about the way that this Government is ramming through this process without giving due consultation to the public in Auckland. 
Why is consultation important? It is important because these are significant changes. The people of Auckland have rights under the Local Government Act and they were not given the opportunity to use those rights. They were not listened to. They have not been listened to and the only person the National Government seems to be listening to is Mr Hide. I think the members of the public are now wondering why the Government is listening only to Mr Hide and not to the people of Auckland. 
The Government wants to listen to him anyway. Mr Hide has been open about it: he wants to gut Auckland governance. He wants to sell off the assets that belong to the people of Auckland. The National Government is in agreement with that. Mr Hide does not want any Maori representation. He does not believe in being inclusive. He actually sees a small minority being able to govern the Auckland region. The National Government agrees with that but it has stayed away from it and allowed Mr Hide to get all the blame. Mr Hide does not have anything to say about that because whether we like it or not for the ACT Party—a minority party with less than 4 percent support from throughout this nation—any publicity is important. Mr Key and the National Government are staying away from all of that blame. The blame is on Mr Hide but the real culprit behind this is the National Government which is egging him on and allowing him free rein to gut local government in Auckland and not listen to the public even though the Government uses those words. They are hollow words. Aucklanders are listening to this debate and they know they are hollow words. 
Last week there was a newspaper article; many members would have seen it. There was a picture of Mr Hide in an article in a suburban newspaper. The picture shows Mr Hide with his hand extended. That picture reflects how the general community feels about this legislation: it is gutting democracy and it is undemocratic. Because the Government is rushing this process through it is not listening to the people of Auckland and therefore it is getting things wrong. The flip-flops on the boundary issue recognise that fact and reveal that the Government is getting things wrong. I am afraid that because it is getting things wrong and because it is not listening the people of Auckland will have to pay for the mistakes of the National-ACT Government.