Chadwick Steve: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Chadwick Steve: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6489] 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I want to pick up on the issue of costs which was raised by the previous speaker Sue Kedgley. A very interesting little group in Auckland—the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board—has raised a very real issue of concern about what will happen to the status of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act. The Act was passed last year by the Labour Government. That issue is also of concern to Labour members. The board had a meeting with the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide and I heard back—as I am the Opposition spokesperson on arts culture and heritage—that he was incredibly dismissive and rather arrogant. He listened but again went away. We do not know what will happen. The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board has no confidence and it is feeling huge anxiety. 
The board has an enormous responsibility to use rates from the region to fund the Auckland Festival Trust the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust the Auckland Theatre Company Auckland Zoo Coastguard Northern Region the New Zealand National Maritime Museum NBR New Zealand Opera the Stardome Observatory and Planetarium Surf Life Saving Northern Region and WaterSafe Auckland. Those are huge amenities and they are managed by the funding board. The board members met with the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson and he did give them a better hearing but he could not give them any reassurance whatsoever. We are debating the second Auckland bill under urgency and there is absolutely no transition planning about what on earth will happen to the funding board. I think that is shameful. 
Auckland has many good community organisations and facilities that deserve certainty and security of ongoing funding in this transitional phase. The ramming of this Auckland super-city bill through the House under urgency in order to be ready for the 2010 election causes uncertainty and anxiety for many many organisations in Auckland. There has been nothing from the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage about the way that the funding board will be supported and certainly there has been nothing from Rodney Hide about it. The Local Government Act which was Labour’s reform of local government talks about cultural social and economic well-being. Well a lot of the organisations I have mentioned come under that cultural umbrella. We all want the super-city legislation to produce a vibrant city but the arts community in Auckland has no security of ongoing funding at all. That is appalling. At the end of this urgency period this bill will be passed the Government having said with high-handed arrogance: “We listen. We know what’s best for Auckland. We’ll sort it out—don’t worry.” It came out with platitudes like “Don’t worry your future is safe in our hands.” It is certainly an issue that the funding trust has no security of ongoing funding. It has funding until 2010 but what happens beyond the next local body election? 
I think the arts community of Auckland which is vibrant and is the heart of New Zealand’s economic driver as its major city deserves better in terms of long-term security of funding for the iconic Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra the theatre company opera and all those other wonderful organisations such as the Auckland Festival Trust. It deserves better. It is a funding agency but it is caught in the transition from the protection it was given last year by the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act to the new super-city. Those sorts of issues are absolutely major and they give the good people of Auckland no confidence that with the passing of this second Auckland bill the Government will dot the i’s and cross the t’s during the transition period in these uncertain times. 
I wanted to bring up the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board. It plays a wonderful part in the vibrancy of Auckland in connecting communities through the arts festivals and events. It deserves certainty.