Pillay Lynne: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Pillay Lynne: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11545] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to join my many Auckland colleagues in taking a call on the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill; there are nine from Auckland and I think I can see three from Waitakere—I think it would be fair to say that Waitakere is leading the charge. But I will come back to the bill. 
I would like to speak in favour of the amendment that gives some power to the local boards. This is a dreadful bill in which local democracy—the “local” in local government—is decimated and that amendment will go a very very small way to address some of the concerns that many of my colleagues have raised and that indeed all of the submitters raised at the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. It refers local board power allocation to a parliamentary committee to determine a set of minimum activity for local boards. That is not the answer it will not restore democracy and it will not bring the “local” back into local government but it will go a small way to ensuring that the local boards have a small amount of power and that they have some teeth to make decisions locally and to advocate for the myriad local organisations families and communities they are in touch with so that their voices are heard. Labour would rather see this bill voted down because it does nothing for local democracy but at the very least I urge members in this Chamber to take heed of that Supplementary Order Paper. As our leader Phil Goff said we in Labour stand for communities but this bill is about corporates and corporates are not the answer to involving communities in local government. 
We know that initially the power of these local boards—the very little power that they will have—will be decided by an unelected entity. The vast majority of submitters were very very concerned about that and it really saddens me and my colleagues that their voices were not heard. Rodney Hide who is sitting beside you Mr Chairperson Roy—he is deeply engrossed and hopefully being attentive—promised that the local boards would be given— 
Phil Twyford 
: Organising his trip. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: He could well be organising his next overseas trip. He promised that the local boards would be given certainty around their powers. He has not lived up to that promise; there is no certainty. There is no guarantee as to their function their powers and their ability to influence the governing body of the Auckland Council. 
As my good friend and colleague Carmel Sepuloni asked if there was a very right-wing council or if a certain mayor was elected who was not in touch with communities what reassurance would local people within a community have? What assurance do the people of Waitakere have? What assurance do all the community organisations have? If we think of Project Twin Streams and of the myriad local organisations that are well supported by Waitakere City Council what assurance do they have that they will be able to continue to fulfil their roles to continue to represent communities and to continue all the good work they do? 
It is a real concern that this bill reinforces the imbalance of the super-city. There is too much power at the centre with the mayor and very very little at the local community level. There is also no ability for the local boards to make by-laws. They are likely to have very very little say in the operations of the corporatised council-controlled organisations or CCOs. We talked about the council-controlled organisations last night and the absolute power that they will have. The seven council-controlled organisations will have extraordinary powers and no accountability back to the local boards.