Twyford Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Twyford Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5832] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I shall address my initial comments to what should have been the bright shiny new centrepiece of the Government’s local government programme of work. I am talking about the Auckland super-city. This should have been a bright new day for local government in Auckland and instead it is turning to custard and it is only August. First is the question of local boards. They were a blunder an ill-judged and ill-advised decision made in the heat of the moment presumably by the Minister of Local Government that caused a backlash by Aucklanders— 
Paul Quinn 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. It is with some reluctance that I interrupt the address by my learned colleague and friend Phil Twyford but I think we have reached a point where numerous Labour speakers in the estimates debate have taken the opportunity to canvass much wider issues. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I think I know where the member is going but that is not the way to raise a point of order. It is not an opportunity for a speech and Speakers’ rulings state clearly that points of order should be made tersely. I think the member was about to say that the speaker was straying from the debate. 
Paul Quinn 
: Yes. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Now we have got to it. This debate is theoretically about the Government’s spending and estimates and the Chair has shown some tolerance and allowed some opportunity for members to bring in illustrations etc. The member should draw back to talking about estimates expenditure. He can exercise his mind as to how he might bring in the points he wants but they need to be connected to Government expenditure. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: I shall focus my comments on the money and resources that have been expended over the last 6 months on the exploration of Auckland governance reform. I have talked about the boards and the backlash that that provoked in the Auckland community. The second point is that the proposal of the Minister of Local Government for a quota of “at large” councillors on the new Auckland Council has put the Government under enormous pressure because public opinion has now decisively rejected that proposal. The third key plank in the Government’s super-city model regarding Maori representation has left the Government and its coalition partners in disarray whereby members of the Government are subjecting themselves to name-calling and abuse in these corridors. 
Today the newspapers say that leading figures in Auckland local government are appalled by rumours of Government decision-making on the question of the northern boundary of the Auckland super-city and the negative planning and environmental effects that that would have on the super-city were it to happen. 
So why is that very important project in tatters even before the select committee has reported back to the House? I say to members opposite and to the Minister in the chair the Hon Rodney Hide that they should look in the mirror and ask themselves why Aucklanders feel so disillusioned and so despondent about the way the super-city project has been handled. The process has been deficient. Money has been expended wastefully every day of every week for the last 6 months by Rodney Hide from the day that he released his own pamphlet which was less than 2 weeks after the tabling of the report of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. Then we saw the process ride roughshod over the National Party’s manifesto promise to consult Aucklanders. We saw the first super-city bill being bulldozed through the House. We saw the denial the confiscation of Aucklanders’ right to a referendum under the Local Government Act. Now we see an ongoing fear that the super-city project is not only about curtailing the voice of local communities and corporatising our democracy but is a prelude to privatising our assets. 
In the last few days the select committee which is such an important part of our parliamentary process has been reduced to a farce because the Minister of Local Government and the Prime Minister pre-empted the decision making and deliberation of the committee. Two people are responsible for this parlous state of affairs— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Debacle! 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: —this debacle as my colleague says. The first person is John Key the Prime Minister. He is the man who wants to be everybody’s friend or tell everybody what he or she wants to hear but he seems incapable of providing the leadership. The second person who is responsible in this estimates debate for such gross mismanagement of the local government programme of action is Rodney Hide the Minister of Local Government. He is actually exercising too much leadership. For a man who represents a party that is capable of summoning 1 percent of support in the poll he is the tail that wags the dog; or as a commentator said this morning he is the tail that bites the dog. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Tails don’t bite! 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: This one did. This is a tail that bit the dog. 
The Minister of Local Government claims to be the champion of ratepayers and I quote a number of things he said on  
Q 
+ 
A 
 not long ago: 
“I don’t think it’s about me getting my way.” in relation to the super-city. He said it was ultimately not up to him; it was ultimately up to the Parliament. The reality is something quite different. Mr Hide has got his way every step of the way.