Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6587] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I also start by thanking the officials who worked with the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. They were a dedicated lot who worked under pressure transporting the select committee from place to place around Auckland and I thank them. I thank the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide and the Associate Minister of Local Government John Carter because at least they let us know what they thought. They were very clear about that. That is not to say I agree with them. We disagreed on many things but those members were very clear about what they thought. 
But the rest of the Cabinet members who come from Auckland are condemned by their silence. We have what the Minister described as a world-class city ahead of us laying the foundations for the future. The driver of the New Zealand economy will be the Auckland super-city. Where were the Auckland Ministers? Why were they not saying anything? They were probably learning about family trusts from Bill English which are far more important than the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill is. 
We need to be very mindful that people were looking forward to seeing how their submissions would be treated by Cabinet. I thank the submitters on the bill. They made some very good suggestions and they were sincere. Some of them were nervous when they came before the select committee which is understandable. The submitters expected something: they expected they would be listened to. We hear the National members say they have been listening to submitters. I think even Chris Tremain has been listening so he said. But where were the Auckland members of the executive? The only one from the National Government who got up and gave a speech was Jonathan Coleman. He got up once. There were over 200 speaking opportunities according to the Chair. There were over 200 speaking opportunities and Jonathan Coleman got up once. 
The process regarding this bill is all about the madness of John Key. I think he was mad to leave it to people like Nikki Kaye to carry on the debate. I acknowledge that as a new member she took on a lot. I did not agree with her very often but she took on a lot. She arranged for the subcommittee to go to Great Barrier Island and she took the committee to Waiheke. It had a nice day out at the beach and that is wonderful. But when we look at the issues we have to ask why Ministers did not come down to the Chamber and take calls. That shows up the Government really badly. 
Pansy Wong is the Minister of Women’s Affairs and the member for Botany. She is a Cantabrian from way back who came to Parliament via Philip Burdon. Now she is the MP for Botany. She came into the Chamber and sat in the chair but she did not say a thing. She should tell the residents of Cockle Bay Meadowlands and Flatbush where she has been and what she has been doing. Did she advocate on their behalf? In Cockle Bay Daniel Yu and Fiona Jeffcoat-Yu have been fighting to prevent the installation of a cellphone tower in Litten Road in Howick. How much confidence will they have over the new super-city when an ordinary constituents’ matter goes by the board? 
Judith Collins the MP for Papakura went to a meeting with a thousand people. John Carter got up; he took the flak. I think three people voted in favour of the proposal. Why did John Carter have to do that when the local member sat there and said very little? I want to talk about how Papakura has been represented. I used to walk down the Great South Road in Papakura and see people like the Hon Merv Wellington. He was not an MP whom I voted for but I had a lot of admiration for him. 
Shane Ardern 
: Who’s that? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Merv Wellington. He actually looked after his community. The Papakura community is now being neglected. People like Warren Kyd listened to what people had to say. He would have listened to submitters but it does not happen any more. We have a mayor in Papakura who is absolutely adored by the community. He will be shattered by this legislation. I have to say the concerns of the people of Papakura are not being listened to. 
I will talk about Manukau Manurewa Manukau East and Mangere where the three MPs held a referendum on the issue. We got out and found out what people had to say. The results were staggering. People felt that the Government was not listening at all. That is right; the Government was not listening. You see the Government had an agenda and it had a way of ramming the legislation through the House. Yes 16 hours’ debate for the Committee stage of this bill is good but why for 2½ hours did no National MP take a call? That is what happened yesterday morning; not one National member took a call. Whose idea was that? 
Jo Goodhew 
: You’ve got nothing to say about the bill. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Well I am talking about how the Government did not listen to the people of Auckland. The young lady should get that into her head because that is important to Aucklanders. It is absolutely important to Aucklanders. You cannot sit there with a smug smile nodding your head. You do not understand Auckland. I do not know whether you have ever been there. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I am sorry Mr Deputy Speaker. I know that you are a very fine member. I was talking about the National junior whip—my apologies. 
The member for Maungakiekie decided to take a call after a lot of provocation. He is a councillor; he could have made a huge contribution to the debate on this bill. But did he? Not at all. As we look around we see again that the Chamber is not full of people. They are not interested in this bill. That is rather sad. My colleagues will be talking about the substantive issues in this bill but I think it is very important to lay out clearly that the executive has failed Aucklanders. It has absolutely failed them because Government members have not got up and explained things. Rodney Hide is not popular with the people. People saw John Carter doing the work. But where were the other Ministers? What have they done? They have turned their backs on people and said they would leave it to the backbench. They have left it to people like Tau Henare. He used to be a New Zealand First member then he became a Mauri Pacific member and now the only people who do not like him are those from National as he goes sliding down its list. Tau Henare could not get out of the vote for this bill; I feel very sorry for him. Georgina te Heuheu has previously had something to say about issues such as those raised by this bill but when it came to the Auckland area and Maori representation she said nothing. 
Where was the executive? The executive should be held to account. That is how Parliament works. The Opposition questions the executive but no it is not here to answer us. That is very sad.