Ross Jami-Lee: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 29 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6967. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 That was a speech from the failed former Mayor of North Shore. The mayoralty of Andrew Williams was a failed mayoralty. The good people of North Shore in the last election he stood in gave him a grand total of 900 votes. Maggie Barry got 22000 votes in that same election. The good people of North Shore appreciated his mayoralty so much that they gave him 900 votes. I can understand why he is so fixated on John Key. It is because John Key would not reply to his text messages at 3.30 in the morning—3.30 in the morning after a hard night out on the town interacting with trees along the way home. 
We are passing this legislation because the ratepayers of New Zealand are crying out for help. If Mr Williams wants to give us a history lesson let me give people a history lesson on the North Shore. Mr Williams likes to talk on his website about the rates increases he had under his mayoralty. During his mayoralty in 2009 the CPI was 1.9 percent. The CPI in 2010 was 1.8 percent. Mr Williams increased rates in North Shore in those years at three times the rate of inflation—three times the rate of inflation. We are dealing with problems in this country in local government because local government in the past 10 years has been spending up large under legislation that was passed by the Labour Government in 2002. 
I want to read out some of the submissions because we heard from Annette King and Phil Twyford about submissions on behalf of individuals who submitted to the Local Government and Environment Committee. If you listened to their comments you would think that everybody is allowed a view in this matter except the poor people actually having to pay the rates bill. 
Let me read out some of the comments from the people paying the rates bill. I have got one here from Grey Power in Waitakere—the very area that Mr Twyford is from. It said in its submission: “We call on The Government to restrain local government spending …”. It also said that the spending problem could be remedied by the removal of the power of general competence and the four well-beings. 
What about Wellington? Annette King is from Wellington. What do the ratepayers down there say? The Wellington Chamber of Commerce said: “The four wellbeings have been a factor behind this explosive”—I will use the word again explosive—“growth in council spending rates and debt over the past decade …”. 
I want to say congratulations to the Hon Dr Nick Smith and the Hon David Carter on the work they have put into this bill and on the relief that ratepayers in this country are going to be getting after this bill passes. Ratepayers want councils to focus on good quality local infrastructure good quality public services and the maintenance of their regulatory responsibilities in an effective and an efficient manner. That is what we are delivering to the ratepayers in New Zealand. 
The decade of bloated council rate increases the decade where we saw debt quadruple from $2 billion to $8 billion is coming to an end. The ratepayers in New Zealand the people paying the bills are welcoming the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill and I look forward to it passing its third reading.