Twyford Phil:  
Twyford Phil:  
[Volume:654;Page:62] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 We have talked about this transitional authority as being a massive power grab. We have used those words because that is exactly what it is. Under this draft legislation the transitional agency will get immediate and effective control of Auckland’s assets. The $28 billion worth of assets owned by Auckland ratepayers will be in the hands of Rodney Hide and a coterie of his hand-picked appointees. Rodney Hide the “Little Emperor of Epsom” has 3 percent of the vote and he is telling 1.4 million Aucklanders what to do with their democratic rights. This legislation extinguishes the mandate of all the elected officials—the mayors the councillors the regional councils—who are only 18 months into their term of office. It is a coup against democracy. 
I want to talk briefly about the Draconian powers that this draft legislation confers on the transition agency. Clause 31 sets out some very very reasonable things that the transition agency should be expected to do. No reasonable person would quibble with the idea that the existing councils in Auckland should not be able to do things that significantly prejudice the reorganisation and so on. But if we look again at clause 20 we will see that the transition agency is effectively given complete control over the affairs of local government in the Auckland region. The councils in Auckland elected only 18 months ago cannot so much as discuss anything on their agenda without the transition agency having the ability to check it confirm it or overrule it. 
I want to talk briefly about the costs of the transition. We have been very frustrated on this side of the Chamber for the last 3 weeks because we have repeatedly asked John Key and Rodney Hide to tell us how much the transition will cost. They have both been unable or unwilling to tell Aucklanders what it will cost them. We commissioned some research by Dr Rhema Vaithianathan an economist at Auckland University who specialises in public economics. We asked her to do the numbers—to go back and look at the royal commission’s modelling on the costs of transition. She found that the transition costs will sting Auckland ratepayers for $750 each. That is 30 percent more than the royal commission’s own model would have cost them. In doing so job losses under the Government’s distorted and flawed model for the super-city are up to 817. That is more than 300 extra jobs lost under the Government’s model. When we look at the transition costs we see that the Government’s plan will cost ratepayers between $574 and $753 each. As well as foisting a flawed and undemocratic model of the super-city on the ratepayers of Auckland it will also cost them more and more people will lose their jobs. The Government is not consulting on it and at the end of the day Aucklanders will have to pick up the tab. 
This is a pig in a poke. It is not what it should have been. Aucklanders do not want it. They are not getting a chance to consult on it yet they will have to pick up the tab. Of course the efficiency savings will be greater and that is because so many jobs are being lost and because the Government has trashed the second tier of local government. It will be cheaper to run year on year but there is plenty of international evidence that the efficiency savings of these big organisational mergers often do not pan out. Auckland ratepayers are having to shell out up front $750 on their rates bill for a flawed undemocratic super-city thanks to Rodney Hide the “Minister of Ratepayers”. He is the man who believes that no local government in this country should be able to put its rates up by more than the rate of inflation without holding a referendum. Does he want to hold a referendum for Auckland ratepayers now? That is the last thing he wants to do. He does not even want to send this bill to a select committee. This is a travesty. It is an outrage for democracy. It should not be allowed. That is why members on this side of the Chamber are fighting it clause by clause.