Bridges Simon: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Bridges Simon: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11480] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 Talofa lava. It has been a real privilege to be on the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee which considered the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill and the two previous bills that make up this Auckland law reform. Dr Paul Hutchison—not yet the Hon Paul Hutchison—was not on the committee permanently but he came along from time to time and made some very valuable contributions. He was a powerful and strong advocate for the area that he represents. It was good to have him there. This series of three bills does a great job not only in putting the “regional” back in and lifting things up to the regional level where they need to be but also in putting the “local” back in and doing things locally. 
I grew up in a place called Te Atatu North on Gloria Avenue. I was not a ratepayer but my parents were. Down the road from where I used to live is a guy called Tau Henare. He lives on the same street as my brother. I tell this story for a reason. As a young guy I used to go into town on the bus down Point Chevalier Road and up through town. The big smoke—where one would go on a night out if one was really feeling cool—was not actually Henderson. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Youth group trip. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Uncle Darren was driving the bus! On a night out we would go into the city. The point of this story is that we would enjoy the city centre of Auckland but if one asked my parents they certainly would not have paid for any of the amenities there. They had no interest as ratepayers in west Auckland in doing the big things that needed to be done in the city centre of Auckland. This bill changes that. It lets things happen regionally where they need to happen regionally—I think that is very good—whilst also letting places have their local flavours. That is excellent. 
I will share another thing. There have been a number of surveys and one of them recently stated that Auckland was the No. 4 best city in the world. That is perhaps disputable. I judge a city on one’s ability to run around the waterfront see what is happening get a good feel for the city and enjoy it. I have to say—the  
New Zealand Herald 
 has picked up on this and Jacinda Ardern has made some good points about the waterfront in Auckland—Auckland’s waterfront is not the best waterfront in this country. Wellington has an excellent waterfront. Its council has done a fantastic job here. In Auckland although there is a lot of opportunity it is not a great place to live to work and to play right there at the front. Out in St Heliers there are good runs but in the centre there are not. This bill will allow a central business district with an infrastructure that is needed to make a vibrant positive city. I think that is a very good thing indeed. 
Labour members have said that no one has been listening. They say that National has not been listening. The  
New Zealand Herald 
 has been entirely critical of the process and it has had a lot to say on this matter. The National Party’s good friend Bernard Orsman has written some fairly hard-hitting articles. The headline on the front page on 25 May says: “Super City u-turn: People power wins”. I do not agree that there was a super-city U-turn; there was some tweaking and some listening and in response to that listening some changes were made. But as the  
New Zealand Herald  
said people power wins. That is what we have seen here. The  
New Zealand Herald 
 editorial on the same day says: “Changes make Super City plan acceptable”. The editorial went through a number of the changes and the details which I will not bother the Committee with but the final sentence of the first paragraph sums it up: “finally it presents a workable framework for uniting Auckland that should have the support of Aucklanders.” The editorial finishes with a challenge. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Who paid for that? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: That member did. It says: “It now falls to Aucklanders to make the Super City work.”