Calder Cam: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Calder Cam: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6530] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 I am very happy to stand yet again to speak on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. I know that my colleague Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga will be speaking again because you will keep; you will keep. And we do have a little competition in National. 
Carmel Sepuloni 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I am a new member but I do not think it is right for that member to be saying that you—the Chairperson—will keep. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: At this hour I hope to be keeping a bit longer. I know that the word “you” has been used many times during this debate. I make it clear to members that they cannot bring the Chair into the debate. 
The second point is that there has also been some familiarity coming into the speeches by way of calling a member by his or her first name. We have to call members by their full name or call him or her “the member” or sir or whatever. The point was well made. From now on could members please show some decorum and respect the protocols that are important as this debate continues. 
Dr CAM CALDER 
: Thank you Mr Chairman. I would like to mention once again the enormous contribution paid by visionaries in the past in the Auckland firmament. I am referring of course to Sir John Logan Campbell who created a wonderful park in the verdant leafy electorate of Epsom. Another person who springs to mind is Sir Dove-Myer Robinson.  
I believe in the importance of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill and in the skill and panache with which the Hon Rodney Hide and the Hon John Carter have steered this bill through the myriad of rocks and whirlpools along the way to this point. We are not there yet but we are getting there. I believe that in the future the Hon Rodney Hide and the Hon John Carter could well be remembered in the same breath as luminaries such as Sir John Logan Campbell and Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson. What is the city? As Shakespeare said: “What is the city but the people?”. 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
Dr CAM CALDER 
: Members are in for another treat: “Oh blank confusion! True epitome of what the mighty city is herself to thousands upon thousands of her sons living amid the same perpetual whirl of trivial objects melted and reduced to one identity …”. Those are the words of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth. 
Unlike the unlamented dilatory despondent dismal detached detumescent one could say flaccid and failed phantom of the late Labour administration and unlike the empty husk of what was the previous Government this National Government has been principled pragmatic and inclusive and it has been listening. We have concentrated on hearing the people. We have taken heed of the hundreds of submissions the plethora of proposals and we have paid attention to the arguments of armies of Aucklanders. I again ask members as Shakespeare did “What is the city but the people?”. 
One of the most frequently heard submissions was a plea for a European Union - like subsidiarity a concept that is taken to the nth degree in France. There they have small areas of fewer than 10 or 15 square kilometres with fewer than 300 souls. We have listened to the requests for representation by communities of interest in the myriad of proposals that came to the royal commission and to the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. The Local Government Commission will decide on between 20 and 30 local boards to reflect these different communities of interest. 
Whilst campaigning in Manurewa I found that the majority of people are hard-working and ambitious for themselves and their children. They have certain requirements many of which this Government is already addressing with early childhood education more police more patrol cars and more insulation for their houses. But chief among their requirements was a need to live in security to be educated well and to have their children educated well and they wanted access to world-class health care. These are the typical needs of all communities. They are the same as for the people in Epsom on the North Shore in Fendalton in Christchurch in Maori Hill in Dunedin in Thorndon here in Wellington or in any community in Greater Auckland that members may consider. There are communities with the same interests. There are similar needs and similar requirements but there are differences within those small communities and we have been listening to them. There will be between 20 and 30 local boards instigated by the Local Government Commission. Those boards will have real local authority. They will enable democratic decision-making.