Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — Second Reading 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11394] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I briefly acknowledge the work done by the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee and of course the work done by officials. This Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill is the third of the bills changing Auckland. For the first one there was no public input. The Government decided to go ahead under urgency and chop up Auckland into one big pie. Then we had a situation where people came to make submissions. For the second bill the committee travelled all over the Auckland region. For this the third bill the committee stayed in a motel and some people came to it to make submissions. The Government says that it listened—but did it? It was hard of hearing. 
People do not like to see the corporatisation of their council in Auckland— 
Hon John Carter 
: No one believes that any more. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That member might not believe it but all that member can do when he gets up to speak is tell a joke about booze so his credibility has gone already. People do not like the idea of corporatisation when seven mayors and one chairman are exchanged for seven council-controlled organisation chairs. That is what people have. Do they have direct control or direct input? No they do not. 
The directors of these council-controlled organisations will be accountable to the Auckland Council not directly to the public—the public miss out. Although the spin may have confused Bernard Orsman and “Granny  
Herald 
” I think that having these seven council-controlled organisations is no substitute for people having democracy. The three council-controlled organisations will control over 95 percent of Auckland spending. Over 75 percent of the money will be in the hands of those council-controlled organisations. The transport council-controlled organisation will have 54 percent of Auckland’s income to spend. Everyone in Auckland knows that transport has been one of the big problems but making it a bigger problem is not the way to cure it. Water is also a real worry. Will the Government allow Auckland’s water to be flogged off? I think it is a possibility. 
During the Committee stage we will put forward Supplementary Order Papers to try to get what Auckland really wants. The Government proposes an agency that will be responsible for the waterfront and to me that seems a bit strange. The Government says that it will get rid of the foreshore and seabed legislation and that no one will own the land but this organisation will have to deal with it. These are the sorts of questions that people come to us with. We will have one Mayor of Auckland. At the moment we have one earl of Auckland but we will have one mayor. People are still upset. Penny Webster who is a former ACT member of Parliament wants to keep her area of Rodney out of Auckland. Did her former colleagues listen to her? 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: Yes. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: No they did not. They turned off their hearing aids and they did not listen to her. Before Rodney Hide and John Carter start celebrating tonight with some Highwater wine they should listen to what Penny Webster and people like Bill Townsend have to say. Bill Townsend who worked like mad and organised people locally hoped that his local MP would bring a bill to the House. But did that happen? No it did not. 
Those people believed that they could make a difference. From last year when the first bill came in no one was able to make a substantive difference. That is very sad because people had meetings all over Auckland. People got together and said that they will fight this. I see it in Papakura and in Manurewa. These people are committed and they believe that they have been mistreated. In a democracy people believe that they can have a say. They now know that what we are getting in Auckland is no democracy. They believe that they will be able to vote for the council and for a mayor but they will not have any say on who sits on the council-controlled organisations and reports back to the council. They will not be able to pick up the phone and ring their local councillor. That is all going because local councillors will not control any of the 75 percent of the money that the council-controlled organisations have. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Carter may say “Yeah” but it is probably the first time he has listened to anything since he has been chairman. I wondered why he was such a good chairman; he let people talk but he was not listening. Maybe having such a friendly chairman who smiles all the time is one way through. The reality is that local boards are the area where some people feel that they will have some say but they will not have as much say as they do at the moment on their present community board or their present council. People will miss out all round. When we put 75 percent of Auckland into council-controlled organisations we are locking up Auckland. 
Rodney Hide talked about how in 1919 I think he said the first steps towards change took place. People will now look on the year 2010 with some real sorrow. I have been a local body politician. When I was first elected in Papakura back in— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Last century. In the last millennium. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: —yes it was in 1980; I was just trying to remember—there was a different style of politician. Then in 1989 Michael Bassett made a big change throughout New Zealand. I think that people then started to be suspicious of local government especially in the Auckland area. They still are. We have people in Howick who still long to be independent and some of them want their name back. They do not like the name they have been given and they are battling against it. We see that people like Pansy Wong and Maurice Williamson are going to try to cash in and say they are doing something for it but they are not really listening to Aucklanders in relation to this big plan. I think that when Rodney Hide sits back in his rocking chair in a few years when he is retired or booted out of Parliament—probably booted out—he will reflect on the mess he has made because it will be more expensive. People already have to pay $130 million of their money for something they do not want. The Government is not stumping up with the money; it is the poor old ratepayer who will stump up for this mess. I am totally opposed to this bill.