Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I think that the previous speaker that just resumed his seat has the record for the shortest contribution in the House today—and possibly just as well because it's obviously become very difficult for the Government members to defend this bill and defend the constant barrage on local government. My colleague at the other end of the House here—Simon Court—has just articulated very well I think the position of local government. I thought I might just do a bit of a poll in the House tonight. How many MPs in the House tonight have been approached by their councils to say that the issues that are being canvassed in this bill are the single biggest issues they want the parliamentary time taken up with? I think that deserves a New Zealand Transport Agency zero plugged in and on display. Nobody gives a toss about the things that are in here even though they are tweaks. The reality is that local government is nearing—I'd say—consultation collapse from the amount of consultation and change that they have been facing over the past three years thanks to this Government.Three waters is obviously a topical one and one that is taxing the minds of our local representatives. Then that leads us to the problem of the future of local government and what that will even look like. They're the things that I think local government would like the Government and the Parliament to be spending its time on not the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill that's with us tonight for its first reading. Councils are really worried about the Resource Management Act reform—there's so much coming down the pipeline in that regard—and other Government legislation: funding infrastructure—that's already been canvassed. There's a general cost of doing business and when councils are forced to make changes to the way they do business there is only one place they go to for the funding and that's their ratepayers. I can tell you just recently I was speaking to one of the mayors in West Coast - Tasman who told me that they've had it up to their eyeballs with consultation because at the end of it all they're the ones that are accountable to their community. That's democracy at work. If the community doesn't like it the councillors hear about it. What we are hearing in this bill is a few tweaks around the number of councillors at the Auckland City Council a toss of a coin being delayed until after a judicial count has been sorted and being able to file nominations electronically. But hidden in all of this is the sneaky little part of it that talks about representation review and Māori representation. The reality is that in the last 20 years 24 councils have tried to establish or introduce Māori wards. What they've had to do is go out to their communities and consult. That's democracy at work. Out of those 24 two have ended up being successful so that tells you that the communities when democratically considering it do not want separate Māori wards. Local government has complied with the rules in the Local Government Act. They consult with their communities and they're the responses that they get. But when you don't like those responses what happens? You change the law—you change the law so that you can get the answer that you want. The problem with this is that there is such a culture that has built up in this country about having a mature grown-up conversation about this that now if it is raised what are you called? A racist. Well I'm telling you in the words of Willie Jackson: in this country democracy is changing. It is changing for the worse. And I tell you: the public in general is not happy with it. It's not happy with all of these tweaks to local democracy. It's not happy with the imposition of central government telling the people that they know best and that they should sit down be quiet and be told what to do.