Hide Rodney: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Hide Rodney: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11532] 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 I thank the Labour Opposition for its contribution to the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. We have worked through the amendments. I especially want to thank the Hon George Hawkins for his work. When he presented us with his amendment it certainly sparked our interest. It took what the people of Auckland were calling for which was an opportunity to have their say to the council-controlled organisations and it took the work of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee a couple of steps further. The difficulty with the bill as the select committee left it was that the Auckland Council could require the council-controlled organisation board meetings to be open to the public but the council-controlled organisations could exclude the public if they were discussing commercial business. For some of them that might have happened quite regularly. That would have become a difficulty with people not knowing whether they would be allowed in the meetings. There was no actual requirement under the law for the public to be able to get to a meeting and have a say. The second difficulty Mr Hawkins has brought to our attention through his amendment is that although the public could come along to a council-controlled organisation meeting that was all they could do. They could look and listen but they could not have a say. There was no mechanism by which members of the public could feed into the thinking of council-controlled organisations’ boards. All they could do is observe what the board was doing. If they did not agree with what they were doing I am not sure what would have happened. 
The Hon George Hawkins’ amendment makes a requirement under the law for two meetings. That is going a step further. So it is guaranteed that there will be public meetings of the council-controlled organisations. I have to say that I find that quite challenging and it has taken me a bit of thinking to get there in that regard. But the provision gives the public an opportunity to have their say directly to the council-controlled organisations which I believe is what the public in Auckland are saying they would like to be able to do. Rather than feeding indirectly through the council into the thinking of the council-controlled organisations they would rather have a formal process recognised in law by which they can have a direct say to the council-controlled organisation. That is what Labour has proposed through an amendment to that effect in the name of the Hon George Hawkins. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: It’s a good SOP. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Ross Robertson calls out that it is a good Supplementary Order Paper. I am just exploring it and I am saying—[ 
Interruption 
] Yes we think it is a good amendment so I discussed the concept with colleagues to see whether there was any interest in supporting the measure of the Hon George Hawkins. There was so we sent it off to be checked by officials to see whether there were any fish-hooks in it and it was fine. There were however just a couple of silly technical issues in terms of drafting so I have discussed the matter with the Hon George Hawkins and we have drafted his exact amendment with the technicalities fixed. I am happy to report to the Committee Labour the Hon George Hawkins and more particularly the people of Auckland that the Government will be supporting that amendment as an improvement in the governance of Auckland. I think it is a good opportunity for the people of Auckland to have a say directly to the council-controlled organisations. Again I thank Labour for its work on the measure and I particularly thank George Hawkins whose name is on the amendment. That amendment will become law.