Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6352] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise to speak to the second reading of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. This process was started by the previous Government and it is pleasing that we are well down the track of completing it. It is major legislation. It has been a collective bill because the previous Government started it we are completing it and the Minister of Local Government has been very much involved with it. 
The rationale behind this legislation is that Auckland governance basically was not working. Increasingly there was dysfunction in all the different communities there was stifling bureaucracy and there was a lot of duplication. This bill is about unifying Auckland so that we can go forward and make progress. This legislation needs to be ready for the local body elections for 2010 and we are on track for it to be ready for that. 
I felt really privileged to be a member of this select committee and to hear the hundreds of submissions. I commend the chair of the committee the Hon John Carter for his chairmanship. There were long days but John Carter chaired with expertise and good humour at all times. I also acknowledge my fellow committee members and commend them for their diligence hard work and goodwill. I felt that it was quite an extraordinary select committee in that we made progress and worked well together. I also thank the officials for the enormous work they did including their work on the logistics of getting all those hundreds of submitters to be in the right place at the right time. Often the arrangement of venues was all last-minute stuff so the officials did an extraordinary job. 
There were 2538 submissions in total which is an astonishing number. The chair of the committee wanted to make sure at all times that all submitters who wanted to be heard were heard and they were given that opportunity. A special subcommittee was convened to go to Great Barrier Island and three subcommittees went to marae. We went to the people travelling to the seven Auckland districts. We went to North Shore Rodney Franklin Papakura—indeed all over Auckland. We went to where the people were not the other way around. I found I gained a real insight by going to the different areas and listening to the different communities as they spoke about their specific communities. It really made a profound impression on me that our communities are alive and well and that they are the heartbeat of Auckland. 
I was very impressed with submitters. I was moved by their passion and by their concerns and fears about what might happen with their community. Without exception I was encouraged by their commitment whether they were individuals community groups voluntary groups businesses or councils. They had their points to make and they certainly made them. 
As a result of the select committee process a number of changes have been made the most important of which I believe relates to the power of the local boards. I will talk about that first. The second tier of governance was always going to be critical. The power of the submissions impressed us all as a committee. Communities were very concerned that they would be overlooked in the super-city structure with the Auckland Council running the show so to speak. They were concerned that they would lose their identity and their voice. They were concerned that they would be toothless and impotent. 
The new local boards will not be the same as the current local community boards or city councils; they will be a new form of board with the power of this legislation behind them. They will be required to listen to their communities and consult their communities and they will have specific powers and responsibilities. As a result of the select committee process local boards will have dedicated budgets. They will have the money to carry out the wishes of their communities in the plans they will have. Local boards will have autonomy. They will be responsible for providing local services and for investing in their communities. 
This bill is all about putting the “local” back into local government and it is doing just that so I think that the fears of the communities and the individuals we heard will be allayed once they understand the powers of the local boards. Communities will be represented well by their boards. Local boards will be able to propose by-laws that will have to be adopted provided they are truly local and comply with all plans and laws. The enforcement of those local by-laws will be able to be done even by the local board where that is appropriate. 
There were a lot of submissions about a lot of issues including the number of councillors and how they will be elected. But I leave it there because there will be considerable debate about these issues during the Committee stage. Thank you.