Mahuta Nanaia: General Debate 
Mahuta Nanaia: General Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:3167] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 Members of this House have been treated with utter contempt by a Minister of the Government. Today when a request to have an urgent debate on the Waterview Connection announcement was declined the Minister of Transport issued a press release about the tunnel option a minute after the Speaker’s determination. It is absolutely disgusting that people living in the Mt Albert community who want some answers on this particular issue and who want it seriously addressed did not get the opportunity to hear the debate on this issue in the House today. 
The Minister has a lot of explaining to do but we should not be surprised. The Minister did not even talk about this issue to his own local candidate in the Mt Albert by-election. He did not bother to address any questions today in the House about this issue and then leave was denied for an urgent question by our spokesperson on transport. We understand that around 250 homes in Mt Albert will be affected. The Waterview Connection is a very important issue in Mt Albert. It is such an important issue that I am sure Melissa Lee is struggling to explain the decision of her Government. There has been no call on this issue in this House over the last week at all. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Not a word. 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: Not one—silence. So we should not be surprised or alarmed that Aucklanders are being treated in this way by the Government. 
On the issue of Auckland governance—the matter that I want to address today—local communities all over Auckland have asked to be consulted on the Government’s proposals. Many of those proposals have ignored the royal commission’s recommendations. People have been turning out all over Auckland to public meetings to express their utter discontent with the Government’s proposals on Auckland governance. They recognise that a strategic solution is required. Out of good courtesy to citizens in Auckland one would think that the Government would go back to those communities and consult about its own proposals. It is a departure from the royal commission’s recommendations. It is a departure from expectations some of which were quite well supported in the royal commission’s report about what representation may look like in Auckland. 
I want to address issues that relate to Hauraki-Waikato because three of those councils fall within my own electorate: the Franklin District Council the Papakura District Council and Counties-Manukau. I turned up to a meeting in Papakura which the Associate Minister of Local Government was at and about 600 people from across the Papakura community had turned out to express their discontent about the proposals the Government was ramming through without any participation from the public whatsoever. Many questions could not be answered. One of the most interesting questions at the Papakura meeting that could not be answered—that the Minister of Local Government himself when questioned by Phil Twyford could not answer—was about the cost for the Government’s proposals. The people there were absolutely astounded that here we had the Government turning up to try to convince people that this is the best way forward yet it could not address the issue of cost. As ratepayers people are left wondering why they have to pay for something that they will not even get a say on. Very simple questions could not be answered at all. 
Meetings all over Auckland and all through those three areas in my electorate have been held on Maori representation. That is a broader issue about how we ensure that good decision-making occurs at the highest level in Auckland. Most councils and certainly the three that I am talking about have established very strong mana whenua relationships in their own districts so it is not a departure from what existing councils are trying to do—strengthen their relationships with mana whenua and Maori in their communities. But from the Government we have had total rejection altogether that Maori matter when it comes to local decision-making and local government. It is absolutely unbelievable. I thought we were going forwards not backwards. 
Is this the bright future that National has promised for the country? Is this the bright future that is inclusive of all people? Is this the bright future that allows everybody to participate? At the TelstraClear stadium on Monday night we had loads of Pacific people also expressing their concern about how their views would be accommodated on the Auckland super-city structure. There is a lot of answering to be done and National is not doing any of it.