Logie Jan: Local Government Act 2002 (Greater Local Democracy) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Local Government Act 2002 (Greater Local Democracy) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5760. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. I rise to take a call for the Green Party on the Local Government Act 2002 (Greater Local Democracy) Amendment Bill. We are pleased to support this bill and offer our congratulations to the member Stuart Nash on getting a bill drawn. I am supressing my envy—I just have to put that on record.The Green Party has a charter that guides all our policy and decision making to ensure that it is consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi ecological wisdom social responsibility non-violence and appropriate decision-making. [Interruption] Appropriate decision-making does not include cellphones in the House but it is in particular what guides our support for this bill which will if passed provide for a poll of affected electors in each district or region relating to the reorganisation of local authorities.This bill removes the existing provision of the Local Government Act 2002 that allows for petitions for holding a poll about a final proposal rather than automatically requiring a poll. It also ensures that a poll must be held in each district or region of the affected area. This will then ensure that the final proposal cannot proceed without the majority of votes in each district or region being in favour of the proposal.Obviously there has been a bit of discussion tonight about some of the recent reforms in Auckland during a previous term of this Government and the proposed reforms in Wellington. We were promised so much in Auckland. We were promised lower rates we were promised greater efficiency and we were promised greater democracy but I must say that the data as well as the word on the ground does not seem to be matching the promise.In Wellington we so recently steered down the possibility of a massive Wellington super-city—of eight councils I think—being created on top of us spanning right around from Masterton to Kāpiti. It was not at all guaranteed that the Local Government Commission would revise or scrap its proposal in response to the overwhelming number of submissions opposing the merger. There was no guarantee in the process that that would happen. It honestly did seem ridiculous that after submissions to the proposal there might even be the possibility of the need for a petition to enable a vote to ensure local voters could have the opportunity to veto the proposal if they were opposed as so many clearly were as indicated through the submission process.Although the commission did listen to opposition in Wellington and ruled out a merger for Northland councils it has left the merger of Napier Wairoa Hastings and the Central Hawke’s Bay into one single authority on the table. So it is absolutely apt that this Parliament considers the question of whether the residents of those areas should automatically have a say on whether they get to keep their own council as they identify it now or not and it is appropriate that the member Stuart Nash brings this bill as he is a representative in this House for those communities.We currently have a very low voter turnout for local government elections. And despite many in our district and city councils doing their best to get out in their communities attending every possible event and taking every opportunity to engage with their local communities voter turnout for local elections in 2013 was just 45 percent. The turnout in metro areas was down to 40 percent of people voting. This reflects a longstanding trend of lower voter turnout in metro areas and higher turnout in small communities.The scale of councils is an issue of enfranchisement. The scale and boundaries of councils are essential to our understanding and our connection to our councils. They are a reflection of us and the change in those boundaries has the ability to eradicate that connection. It is essential that people have a say in any change in that process. The Green Party supports this bill.