Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6486] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak. In terms of the boundaries one has to ask why the Government is so determined to hand over Auckland’s dams to the Waikato Regional Council. We heard many contentious issues as we listened to the people of Auckland take the time to submit on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. One of those issues was the northern and southern boundaries. It is quite good that the Government decided to change its mind at the eleventh hour on the northern boundary. I suppose it did so because its secret agenda had been revealed for all to see. The Government was linking itself closely to Mr Hide’s business people who want to develop that part of northern Rodney without having to go through the normal council consent process. 
But we have to come back to the southern boundary and to recognise that the bill proposes to partition the Franklin District with the north joining the Auckland Council and the southern part joining the Waikato District Council. Some members of this House would have received a recent email from Mr Colin Bull who feels strongly about this issue. So strong is his belief that he believes that the National Government to which he is affiliated—I am not sure whether he is a supporter or a member of the National Party but nevertheless he is quite close to it—is making the wrong decision. Funnily enough when the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee was in Papakura and then in Franklin listening to submitters I said to the chairman the Hon John Carter that National will get bitten by this bill. I could hear the anger of the submitters and I said that I thought they were mainly National supporters. He turned to me and said: “What do you mean saying they are our supporters? They are our members!”. People there were fund-raisers for the National Party and they are the people the Government will have a problem with. 
One of the media headlines yesterday was: “Nat MP critical of super-city boundary back-down”. The member for Hunua Dr Hutchison said: “… the boundary goes through the streets of Waiuku”. The southern boundary is critical because not only will critical water supplies—54 percent of Auckland’s total water supply—be cut off but also prime regional parks land including three major regional parks all paid for by Auckland ratepayers and all managed by the Auckland Regional Council will be given away. The boundary divides the towns of Waiuku and Pukekohe separating the residents of northern Franklin from essential services and infrastructure. Earlier today the chair of the Auckland Regional Council stated in a press release: “This is absurd and definitely not good local government.” The call we make to the Government on behalf of the people of Auckland is that it is not too late to change the southern boundary to save face and to get things right. The Government should listen to the people of Auckland. 
The other area that is contentious in so far as the people of Auckland are concerned is the local boards. The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance came out after 18 months of extensive research and consultation and said that yes there would be a unitary authority and underneath that unitary authority there would be local boards of sufficient size to meet and manage the existing needs of the ratepayers of Auckland and also of sufficient size to recognise that the transition from the existing eight local territorial authorities to a single unitary authority would take time. It would need more time than the Government gave the people of Auckland when it rammed the first Auckland bill through under urgency. During the select committee process people felt they were not given enough time. The process was hasty and rushed and of course the experience of many Aucklanders is that when Governments do that they get things wrong.