Sio Su'a William: Business of Select Committees — Appointments 
Sio Su'a William: Business of Select Committees — Appointments 
[Volume:654;Page:3193] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 I move 
 That the following words be added to the motion after the words “Maori Party 1”and before the words “and that the committee”: “all members of the committee must have been elected to represent a seat in the Auckland region or have registered a permanent home address with the Parliamentary Service which is in the Auckland region”. 
This is an important amendment to Government motion No. 2. It appears that the Government is very determined to do away with the Local Government and Environment Committee and to attempt to ram through a special select committee. Standing Order 184 establishes the Local Government and Environment Committee. It is that very committee out of 13 select committees that is charged with the powers rights and privileges to determine all matters concerning local government. This afternoon we heard from Mr Auchinvole the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: If the Government is so intent on ramming through a motion for a special select committee without listening to the voices of Aucklanders then it is important that we have Aucklanders on that select committee. 
As other members have stated there is currently a Local Government and Environment Committee which was established under Standing Order 184 for the purpose of considering matters of local government. We heard earlier this afternoon from the chair of that committee Mr Auchinvole. After my colleague the Hon George Hawkins had questioned Mr Auchinvole about the committee’s work Mr Auchinvole said that it was currently working on the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill. But that work will be completed and reported back to the House by 19 June so why are we setting up a special select committee? That is the big question. Why does the Government want to ram through a motion to set up a special select committee on the proposed super-city when there is already a constituted parliamentary committee to carry out that work? 
I believe that this is a display of naked arrogance by the Government. There has been a consistent pattern of arrogance after only 6 months of it being in Government. Sure Mr Key says he is listening but all the time his offsider the Hon Rodney Hide is rushing through significant bills that will have an effect on the lives of over 1 million people for the next 50 to 100 years. These people are not even being given a voice. In my view it is pure blatant naked arrogance. This Government believes that because it has the numbers in the House it can do whatever it wants. That is what Government members have been saying to the public. The message that this Government is sending to the public of Auckland is that the Government has the numbers and is going to do whatever it wants to do. That is the message that is going out. 
But in setting up this select committee the Government is sending out another message to the public of New Zealand. That message is that the Government does not trust Mr Auchinvole the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee. It does not trust him to administer local government matters. It is also—and this is the sad thing—sending a message to the people of the West Coast - Tasman electorate whom Mr Auchinvole represents. It is telling them that the Government does not trust its own MP. That is the kind of message that is going out. The message is also that this Government does not trust its other MPs on the Local Government and Environment Committee. It does not trust Nicky Wagner the deputy chair. It does not trust Nikki Kaye the MP for Auckland Central. It does not trust Jonathan Young the MP for New Plymouth. It does not even trust Louise Upston the MP for Taupo. I give those members my deepest sympathies. Their Government colleagues do not trust those members of the Local Government and Environment Committee. 
If this Government does not trust any of those members whom does it trust? It certainly does not trust Aucklanders enough to give them a voice. Let us consider the MPs of the Auckland region. The Prime Minister the Hon Mr Key is quite happy to say he is listening to people but is he really listening and whom is he listening to? The community tells me that he is listening to big business and the elite and is not listening to ordinary working people. Earlier tonight Newstalk ZB released the results of a poll conducted by Research New Zealand. It showed that 45 percent of respondents said no to the super-city and 41 percent said yes. Is Mr Key listening to those people? He might be listening but is he really hearing the voices of ordinary hard-working Aucklanders? I doubt that very much. 
Mr Hide said he wants to give people the opportunity to have a say. The problem is that the first bill that he has introduced on this issue rips the guts out of local government as we know it today and the general public have not had a say about that. I tell the public who are listening to this debate to make sure they send their faxes emails and letters to Mr Hide to let him know what they think about the decision to rush this bill through the House under urgency. 
I do not know whether the Hon Maurice Williamson will have time to be on the new select committee. He does not care one iota about the people of Pakuranga and their view on this matter. If he did he would have called a meeting with his electorate. But I understand from members of that community that he has not called a meeting because he just does not care. 
Will the Hon Dr Richard Worth be on the select committee? I am not sure. He has been quite busy of late with his private or public business trip to India. He will be ducking and dodging that issue for a while and will not be too interested in Auckland. Will the Hon Judith Collins be on the committee? No I doubt it. She has her hands full because she has just worked out that speaking tough on crime does not actually solve crime. I am not sure whether Melissa Lee will be on the select committee. She has been quite busy doing TV interviews of late so I think she will not be available to sit on the special select committee. I am not sure whether my friend Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga will be available; he is still trying to figure out which job he should do. 
Dr Paul Hutchison—now there is an MP. He is the only National MP who I have heard has called a public meeting with his constituents. The message he heard was that they do not want the super-city. In fact the good people of the Franklin District Council do not want to be part of the super-city. They want to go south. Will Dr Paul Hutchison give voice to what he has heard from his community? More important will the National MPs on the proposed select committee have a voice? Will any of them have a voice on that special select committee? 
The Hon Paula Bennett is one of the few National MPs whom I have heard speak out on the Government’s super-city proposal but she is now busy restructuring the Ministry of Social Development through 200 redundancies. People who were employed by the ministry will now become clients of it. 
The public wants its voice to be heard but because this Government is not listening let us at least let the Auckland-based MPs consider the Government’s super-city proposal. That is what my amendment is about. I hope that members of the Government and other parties who are listening will ensure that people who live in Auckland are part of the new select committee. The Prime Minister says he is listening but his offsider the Hon Mr Hide is ramming through the House in urgency the first and probably the most important bill about this issue.