Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6341] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 First of all I want to thank the officials who worked on behalf of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. I also acknowledge the work of the chairman the Hon John Carter. He was not my choice to be the chair—I thought it was disgraceful to have a member of the executive chairing the committee—but I will be fair; I think he did a good job. 
It is very interesting that the Government says it was listening. It was not. It listened to what it wanted to hear and it blocked its ears to what it did not want to hear. Of course that was the case with the first bill now the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009. It was rushed through without a select committee hearing and that approach has continued. Maori and the vast number of the submitters thought there should be Maori seats but the Government did not listen. We have heard since that it is not listening. 
This bill tells us about a lack of democracy. When people come to a select committee in such numbers and so united in what they say I do not think is very sensible to ignore them. It shows a lack of democracy by a Government that sends SAS troops to Afghanistan to help with democracy but does not practice it at home. This bill is all about the madness of John Key. We have a Cabinet that is full up of people who come from the Auckland area and they sat in the Cabinet room and were absolutely silent on the issue. Many of them know it was mad to select Rodney Hide as the Minister of Local Government. They picked a person who had an agenda but it coincided with the agenda that the Government had. I think that was mad. What has Murray McCully a Cabinet Minister said about this bill? No one knows. What has Wayne Mapp another Cabinet Minister said about this bill? He has not said anything. 
Tau Henare has said things. He said he believed there should be some Maori voices around the council table but he got dumped on by his party—a party that used to say how good it was that one could cross the floor of the House and speak one’s mind. Paul Hutchison is another member who belatedly spoke out. I want him to tell me what he will tell the people who live in the Waikato area of Pukekohe why they have to travel down to Hamilton to get a resource consent. They will have to go all the way down to Hamilton instead of into Pukekohe. That does not make sense and Paul Hutchison did not try hard enough to stand up for them. I challenge him to cross the floor when we vote on that matter but will he? 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: No way! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: No he probably will not. 
I think of other Cabinet Ministers like Dr Jonathan Coleman. He did not say anything; he ran away like a scalded cat. I think of Paula Bennett who has a majority of about 635; she will be gone from this House in the next election. When the issue first came up she opened her mouth but it was absolutely slammed shut. I think of Pansy Wong. She does not seem to speak in the House not even on this bill—not on anything. She is the most silent member of Parliament. I think of Maurice Williamson. Everyone thought he would be a bit of a rebel and stick up for his local people but he has not. Then I think of Judith Collins. She did not even turn up to a meeting where her constituents wanted to see her in Papakura last night. Why not? She probably had a dinner date. She was probably at some flash Wellington restaurant drinking right-wing chardonnay and rattling the glasses. She would be swigging it back and eating caviar while the people in Papakura suffered. 
These changes in boundaries included talk about the change in Rodney and I welcome that change because that is what people want. But in the Franklin area the Government is giving away Auckland’s Hunua area to the Waikato. It is the playground for people in South Auckland and indeed most of Auckland. Mike Lee chairman of the Auckland Regional Council pleaded with the Minister of Local Government. Federated Farmers put it like this: “It’s like condemning Auckland and Franklin to King Solomon-type solutions without the wisdom.” I think that is a very good summary of it all. I hope Paul Hutchison takes that on board and goes and talks to Federated Farmers and to Colin Bull and they give him a load of it because in the end he has to make sure that he sticks up for his area. We know that his colleague right next to him from Papakura will not stick up for her constituents at all. 
Some members should have turned up to the select committee a bit more than they did. Hone Harawira all of a sudden found out that there was not going to be enough work done to get Maori seats. He should have been there all the time. He should not have missed a single meeting but he did. That demonstrates that if one is there all the time if one is speaking to people after the meetings and is listening to people one starts to see patterns emerging. That is what happened with the wards. First of all the Government was going to have eight people elected at large. Then it changed its mind because a number of people said those all should be elected by wards. But I say that we should not be tricked by the National Government. How big will those wards be? Will there be three or four five or six or 20 or maybe just 10 wards? People still do not know the answers. 
The National Government wants people to take it on trust. Well I can tell them they can never ever take a Tory on trust. I have been in the House for 19 years and have never found National members to be the most honest people around. I am quite surprised by them. I think one of the things that people will be doing is paying more in rates. The Government has not told us how much all this reorganisation will cost. One thing is for certain: the rates will go up and they will go up 3 months before the next election. I think this Government ought to be wise to that. It is very interesting. 
I say to Dr Paul Hutchinson that he should go and talk to his colleague Nikki Kaye. She got what she wanted for Waiheke so why did that member not get what the people of Franklin wanted? She got that because she is better than him even though he has been in the House longer. I see that Nikki Kaye is embarrassed but she should not be. I know that she secretly believes how good she is. But Government members are disorganised. Tau Henare and Paul Hutchinson have spoken out against the bill. Where is Georgina te Heuheu— 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Time and time again we have heard this member pronounce names incorrectly. In my case it is “Hutchison”; the Hutchinsons were a branch of the family that invented the thumbscrew. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: Members should take as much care as they can with pronunciation. I also caution the member that he referred to the absence of a member in asking where somebody is and he must not do that. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I apologise to the member opposite. I did not know that his relatives were inventing thumbscrews but I will take his word for it. It is a pity they did not put one on him until he squealed loud enough to make changes to the bill. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Sounds like they did. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That is right! 
This bill will be the first nail in the coffin of the National Government. It is very interesting that Rodney Hide is the person who is preparing the hearse ready to take the National Party into the next election with legislation that will annoy and burn away at Aucklanders for a long long time. 
Debate interrupted.