Cunliffe David: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Cunliffe David: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6512] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a brief call or three in the debate on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill and to follow on from the member of the tight five Tau Henare who has just resumed his seat. Tau Henare was a team player then and he is a team player now; it is just a different team. According to that member there was no “I” in Mauri Pacific and he struggled to find an “I” in the Alliance but he has finally found an “I” in the National Party. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. There is an “I” in Mauri Pacific. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: That is not a point of order; that is a debating point. We are not here to correct people’s spelling. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The alphabetically challenged waka jumper has gone from Dirty Dog to lapdog. In the good old days when he was young strong and full of testosterone he would not have lain down and let the National Party bulldoze and roll over the top of him like he has here. He would not have been a member like Nikki Kaye who said about trees “Oh it’s so awful; I’ve talked to the Minister about it.” He would have simply crossed the floor of the Chamber like the good old days. But no the Dirty Dog has become a lapdog. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: From Dirty Dog to lapdog! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The Dirty Dog is a lapdog. 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: Get that man a mirror! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I see that Mr Lotu-Iiga has vocalised and that is a wonderful thing to see. It is wonderful to have both of those members in the Chamber today. It is wonderful to have both the councillor and the member of Parliament in the Chamber. He is uniquely qualified to talk about the rearrangement of the Auckland City Council because that is what he does for a living—he plays musical chairs. 
In all seriousness now the issue at the heart of this part of the debate is how many local boards should there be. The royal commission said six the National Government says 30 and Labour says something in the middle—15 to 20. 
Nikki Kaye 
: No we said around 20 to 30 and Labour believed it should be 20. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: With her customary precision Nikki Kaye says around about 20 to 30. All right that is fine. I was trying to be kind and point out that there is a trade-off. On the one hand we have lower cost. That is the Rodney Hide view the Countdown view the cut-cost cut-price view. It is a minimalist view of the State to have half a dozen boards and pay them nothing and get them to do nothing—no rates rubbish or rats. That is it. On the other hand National would have 30 boards but until this debate I could not understand why the National Government would want to put the ratepayer to such an expense. I say to colleagues it has finally dawned on me that there are not enough life rafts for the members of the National caucus if they had only half a dozen councils. 
Where is Mr Lotu-Iiga’s triple dipper? It is in the community board for Eastern Bays. That will be where he heads next because his council seat is not safe and his parliamentary seat will probably by gone by the general election due to electoral reform. What about the man who campaigned for Te Atatu Tau Henare? The member for Te Atatu Chris Carter is fine but what about Tau Henare the waka jumper? The word is that Michael Jones will run for the National Party in Te Atatu next time. Mr Henare cannot even get to the starters platform. What thanks is that from the National Government for being its lapdog? 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: High Commissioner to Niue! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: He could be High Commissioner to Niue or the alderman on Te Atatu’s community board while Michael Jones runs for the seat of Te Atatu. 
I say “Kia ora” to Nikki Kaye who is a fine member. But Nikki Kaye is the hand-wringing apologist for the National Government in respect of the urban liberals of central Auckland. One of our number will probably become the MP for Auckland Central and Nikki Kaye will be looking to the Western Bays community board for a job. There are not enough lifeboats for the Government’s hapless members who are staring down the barrel of imminent electoral defeat. So to be absolutely sure the Government has decided on 30 community boards because there has to be room somewhere for the whole caucus and the other four members of the tight five. Thank you.