Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — First Reading 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3735] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 That was a very interesting speech by the member Rodney Hide. When he mentioned Waiheke it made me think “Oh there’s the expert on public toilets in Waiheke speaking.” and some members will remember that. 
Nikki Kaye 
: That’s offensive! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Ah—diddums. However this is a very important bill. Being here this week is like being on the set of  
Blackadder 
 where Blackadder and Baldrick—the two local government Ministers—are hatching up a cunning plan for Auckland. But what have they delivered? A giant turnip for Auckland. That is what has happened. You see this bill is dealing with the rats and mice for Auckland; the big decision has already been made. I think people on the Opposition side of the House agree that one council for Auckland is the right idea but we do not like the Government trampling over Aucklanders without giving them a say on the really important part—the really big change. 
Hon John Carter 
: Which is what? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Associate Minister of Local Government is asking what that is. No wonder we are in trouble! Let me tell members that the honeymoon for National is over and the brides sitting opposite are going home to their mothers and saying: “Well it wasn’t that exciting.” They are disappointed and they will feel from now on that Aucklanders really are upset with them—really annoyed. 
You see we will be given the opportunity to talk about local boards. Those are what we are going to have but they are not going to have very much power at all. I suppose the most important power they will have is to decide who gets the key to the local hall. Perhaps they might be in charge of dogs and in making decisions about brothels. I dare say my colleague on the other side of the House Mr Bakshi a list member for National would know all about that so he might be able to help there. The boards will talk about parking. They might be able to talk about liquor bans although maybe the big council will not let them do that. It is really quite worrying. 
Hon Members 
: George George! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Hello! 
Hon Member 
: Where’s Mr Prasad? I haven’t seen him for 3 days! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Well! I want to talk about the Government’s use of parliamentary funds to advertise in the newspaper I have here. I have been looking through it to see who is having meetings. Well the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith is going to have a meeting. Yes the Hon Paula Bennett is. She went weak at the knees the last time she had a meeting about this. Who is having the most meetings? It is Nikki Kaye; that is fine. One person I have a bit of admiration for because she did not jump up in the earlier debates is Jackie Blue and I would be interested to hear what she actually thinks. And we have the member for Maungakiekie who is going to be very busy because he feels a cold draught up his majority. Who is next? It is my friend Mr Bakshi again. He has a meeting and I want to advertise this meeting. It is in Papatoetoe on 9 June at 7 p.m.; he is asking everyone to come along and to bring a job offer as well. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Will he say anything? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: He has said nothing in 4 days. Then we have Paul Hutchison who made a brilliant third reading speech. Someone else wrote it for him—probably the whips or the research unit. 
But what is actually happening here is that the Government is trying to con Aucklanders that they are going to have a say. Well that will not happen at all because the major part of this legislation—of these three bills—has already been passed. We have a situation where National members are going around trying to con people. 
Mr Peachey is not doing it. He is not having a meeting because he knows that the people where he lives are not going to waste their time on going out to one. They know he is not worth listening to so they are not going to go and that is quite a worry. 
The other name I was looking for was Melissa Lee. They kept her in the dark last time and it is not a good idea to keep her in the dark; it leads to trouble. 
In the end we want to find out why National members are having these meetings. Why did they not have the meetings before and tell people about the big plan? They did not do it; they did not want to do it. 
Of course Richard Worth is not having any meetings and I thought he knew the Mayor of Auckland pretty well—but obviously not as well as the Mayor of New Delhi—so that is really quite a surprise to us all. Wayne Mapp is not having a meeting—and why not? 
Wayne Mapp is out on manoeuvres. But he gets there and what a great MP and Minister of Defence he is. He does not get seasick; yes he is a person without any feelings at all. He does not feel for the people on the North Shore. 
What will happen is that people will go along and make submissions but will they have a chance to make real submissions? No. The National Government does not have confidence in its membership on the Local Government and Environment Committee. The chairman is from West Coast - Tasman and of course he has had a terrible job. He has had to cut people off when they have wanted to say something. He has been giving people 5 minutes—5 minutes—to talk about such important things but National wants someone a bit stronger who will give Aucklanders only 2 minutes. In the end the Government is not really listening at all. 
When it comes to deciding whether there will be 20 or 30 community boards the Local Government Commission will be doing that. 
Hon Member 
: This is the most exciting night George has had in 50 years. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There is “Baldrick” going on again over there; I wish he would keep quiet. 
The people of Manukau will want to talk about their airport shares and how the National Government stole their shares in the airport. At least I had the decency to sell the shares back to the Government when I was mayor. 
Let us have a look at the cost. How much will it cost? The Government is not worried about the cost because it will not cost the Government; it will cost Aucklanders. It will cost the people who are losing their jobs the people who are losing overtime. They are the ones who will pay for it. Do members think that the National Government cares? 
We have local mayors like Len Brown who goes around schools and talks to kids sings to kids and provides leadership but there will not be any of that from local boards. They will be chasing dogs licensing brothels etc. Calum Penrose is an excellent person and he is the Mayor of Papakura. What is happening there? In Papakura where there are some difficulties the kids are asking “Aren’t we going to have a mayor?”. The kids realise it; the kids realise that leadership is important. They need someone to look up to. They do not need as their figurehead the janitor who looks after the local hall. 
In the end I think that this Government has made a big mistake. The process of getting out and talking to people should have happened with the first bill and not the second if the Government is sending only one to the select committee. The process should have happened with both of them actually. But of course the rush is on. And the rush will be on to the polling booths to get rid of the Government that has stolen Auckland this May. The people will remember this time as the turn-round time.