Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11533] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 The Government thinks that members on this side of the Chamber and the 50 percent of Aucklanders who have told recent polls that they do not want Rodney Hide’s super-city do not understand the changes it has made to the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. I say to members on that side of the Chamber that we do understand. We know exactly what their game is. We know what the Government is up to. Furthermore the people of Auckland know what the Government is up to and they do not like it. They have not liked it all year and that is why the polls have been getting stronger and stronger against the super-city. 
I pay tribute to the linguistic skills of the Minister of Local Government the Hon Rodney Hide. He speaks fluent spin and he practises every day in the Chamber. But unfortunately the language of transparency and accountability is not really in his bones and we can see that in the provisions of this bill. He cast himself as the “Minister for Ratepayers” but it took him 13 months to give the most basic financial accounting of what his super-city will cost Aucklanders. He came down to the Chamber last week and trumpeted that he had managed to keep the costs of the super-city down to $160 million but he forgot to tell Parliament about another $40 million in costs; the  
New Zealand Herald 
 reported 5 days later that the cost of the super-city is actually $200 million and counting. 
Over the last few months information has been drip-fed into the public domain on what this legislation will cost Aucklanders. Six weeks ago all we knew thanks to the “Minister for Ratepayers” was that his super-city would cost $34 million. Then it crept up to $120 million after the Budget was released. He said last week that the cost was $160 million and now we know it will be at least $200 million and counting. 
Rodney Hide came to Parliament to bust perks and reform Parliament but it took him a week of sustained embarrassment in the national media before he apologised for taking his girlfriend on a world tour during which he had perhaps only 2 or 3 days of meetings in a 10-day world trip. He spent $40000 worth of taxpayers’ money on a so-called fact-finding tour of international cities when already both of his bills on the super-city had been drafted and one of them had been passed and the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance had done extensive research on international cities at a cost of $4 million to the taxpayer. 
The worst thing of all is that the great reformer of parliamentary procedure rammed two super-city bills through Parliament under urgency. In fact the second bill was passed under urgency in the words of the Prime Minister because the Minister of Local Government was on an international tour. He took his girlfriend to her brother’s wedding and rode the roller coaster at Universal Studios—or was it Disneyland—and as a result of that the second super-city bill was passed under urgency. Well that is great. 
Rodney Hide claims to be a champion of transparency and accountability. He wanted to force councils to hold compulsory referenda. But he is also imposing corporatisation on Auckland. Seventy-five percent of its assets and operations will be handed over to control by hand-picked boards against the advice of Government departments. 
He loves to lecture this House on good governance but it was his threat to resign that made John Key drop Maori seats from the Auckland agenda. Mr Hide then went around town encouraging people to make submissions to the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee which Hone Harawira Tau Henare and others are on on the question of Maori seats when the decision had already been made behind closed doors. 
He is a recidivist when it comes to spin. When he was asked by journalists about having Maori seats on the Auckland Council he loved to talk about tribal seats but he completely and wilfully ignored the fact that the royal commission advocated that at least two seats be elected from the Maori roll. He goes around town saying that local boards have the power to make by-laws when he knows quite well that they have no such power. They have the ability under the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act only to propose by-laws to the Auckland Council. 
He claims to be a champion of the one person one vote principle but that is a joke. He has done more than any one person to undermine democracy in Auckland local government.