Fenton Darien: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 29 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6972. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 What is evil is Maggie Barry in her usual scathing way dismissing questions about what is going to happen on the North Shore. What she has not answered what her party has not answered and what she will need to answer to her constituents on the North Shore is whether the vast amount of council and local board funding will continue for arts and culture centres in her electorate. Will they be safe? Will there be money for flower gardens and events and— 
Maggie Barry 
: Yes if they’re viable. If they’re viable there will be. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Well she says they will be. Can the member guarantee that? Will there be Sculpture OnShore? What about the art house what happens to that? That is council-funded. What happens to the art house? What happens to the Michael King Writers’ Centre? Maggie Barry needs to tell the truth. Will Devonport’s heritage be protected? Will the Lake House Arts Centre be secure? These are legitimate questions that people in her electorate have been asking me because she has been out there bullying them and telling them that the Government knows best. Sam Lotu-Iiga and Alfred Ngaro turned up for the North Shore Pasefika Festival last week another festival with funding help from the local board. Will it go ahead next year? I have been to the North Shore Pasefika Festival every year since it began 6 years ago. Will it be able to go ahead if the local board cannot help fund it and if Nick Smith says from Wellington that it is not a priority? Will Jonathan Coleman still be able to come to the Chinese New Year and moon festivals at Northcote Central and sit on the stage like he does every year even though his Government does not believe that councils should be involved in the cultural well-being of communities? 
Who is going to pay for the citizenship ceremonies that they front up to? Who is going to pay for the Anzac Day ceremonies? Are they priorities for councils? Do they come before local infrastructure which the Government has forced local councils to pay for? We do not know. Should the local board give funding to the Northcote Point Community Creche for example? You see Jonathan Coleman said yes and he has a special interest in that. I think he should be a little bit concerned about that. The Birkenhead Northcote Glenfield (Kaipatiki) Community Facilities Trust—run by Jill Nerheny who received a QSM last year—is council-funded and it fits under the four well-beings. How safe is the work it does? What does it do? It organises events it does education it does crime prevention and it has Ministry of Social Development contracts for strengthening families. It is run out of its council-funded building. All of her work and all of the work that I have listed helps save ratepayers and taxpayers money because it makes our communities great places to live and work in. It ensures that our local areas are vibrant socially inclusive and active. 
The biggest lie around this bill is that the four well-beings are costly. There is no evidence of that. The evidence does not stack up. Rates are still going to go up—rates are still going to go up—and communities will lose their hearts and souls. What this bill is—as we all know—is another Nick Smith - manufactured crisis. It is part of his agenda that he has managed to convince the rest of the Government is a good idea. The Minister of Local Government David Carter who succeeded Nick Smith has not been seen anywhere near this bill. He has not participated in any of the debates. He has been lazy. He has just picked up the work that Nick Smith did. The Minister has just picked it up and gone along with it because he cannot be bothered listening to what people said. 
I think the saddest thing about this bill is that the Government has not listened. All 78 councils throughout New Zealand oppose this bill. Of nearly 500 submissions the majority were overwhelmingly in opposition to this bill. I cannot express enough my disappointment about this bill but I am not surprised. The descriptions that have been given about the Government’s determination to destroy this part of our democracy have been many and varied but for me it is just a demonstration of how this Government has become arrogant smug and know-it-all and the people in our communities will end up paying for it.