Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6501] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 That contribution from Cam Calder was the worst I have heard in this Committee and I blame the Minister in the chair Hon John Carter. Where are the members of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee? Where is Nikki Kaye? Where is the contribution from Simon Bridges? Where is the contribution from Tau Henare? Why are they being silenced in this Chamber? 
To be fair I acknowledge the Hon John Carter because as the Associate Minister of Local Government he was a good chair of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. He was welcoming of the public and he was very positive. In fact as the themes from the submitters became prominent he began to raise the expectations of the community. One of the very first things that the Hon John Carter said was “We will empower boards.” That was the very first thing and overwhelmingly as we listened to submissions from the four corners of the Auckland region that was one of the things of concern that was raised. As I listened to John Carter chair those meetings I wondered why National did not appoint him as the Minister of Local Government. Why is that? He should have been the Minister but alas as the Associate Minister his strings are being pulled by the Minister Mr Rodney Hide. 
In the submissions advocated by various representatives from the community they were generally quite concerned about the initial Government proposal regarding local boards. After the royal commission had conducted its work it recommended that there be six local boards that basically follow the boundaries of the existing main cities in Auckland. The Government’s response was 20 to 30 boards. It sent that out for public consultation and that was it. Labour argued in its proposal for local boards that are large enough to have some influence but small enough still to be able to represent our various communities. Many of the communities that made submissions raised concerns about the powers to be clarified. They wanted powers to be identified in the legislation. They wanted funding to be put in the legislation. In fact I recall one submitter even recommended that each local board be given $5 million per year to conduct their affairs. 
There were issues raised about staffing as to how these local boards would be able to deliver their roles and organise their functions. Of course that is a significant issue because there are about 6000 staff throughout the Auckland region who work for local government. But there has been so much uncertainty about this particular process and there is so much rush and hastiness that everybody is afraid and morale is low. I suspect if we are unable to provide some guarantee to the 6000-plus staff for the next 2 years or 3 years many of them will leave. They will leave for overseas or for other jobs. Yet we have not yet completed this work. We have not yet identified the boundaries because the staffing will be determined on the basis of how big or small those particular boards will be. If we do not have sufficient staffing it means that local boards will be competing for somebody to take the minutes to look after the parks or to put up a proposal on their planning. 
People were also concerned about assets. They wanted local boards to be able to have control of some of their community assets—things like libraries and swimming pools. Social services is another area where people raised their concerns. They wanted to know about the art and community projects that are currently being delivered in Mangere and throughout the city. The problem in the Government’s proposal is that the local boards are still subservient to the local council.