Hawkins George: Business of Select Committees — Appointments 
Hawkins George: Business of Select Committees — Appointments 
[Volume:654;Page:3188] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I move  
That the motion be amended by omitting all words after “That” and adding the following: “any legislation concerning the governance of Auckland be referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.” 
 I think that is perfectly reasonable. 
However before talking about that I just want to note how interested the Auckland members of the National Party are. We have Dr Paul Hutchison as sole representative and he is regarded by his party as being not good enough to be in the executive—a backbencher for life—but there he is sitting there as the sole Government representative from Auckland. Where are those other members? Where is Pansy Wong? Where is member Bakshi—probably looking after his houses that he had to rent out as brothels. Where is Paula Bennett? She is probably squirming around with people who oppose what the Government is doing. She will be agreeing with them as she runs around looking at the earrings of the person she has appointed to the Families Commission. Her focus has been taken away by some fancy earrings. Where is Dr Jackie Blue? Dr Jackie Blue should be in here fighting for Aucklanders. 
It is good to see that the Associate Minister of Local Government John Carter is here. But of course he was not talking about what we were meant to be talking about; he was talking about other things. Judith Collins went to the great Papakura meeting on Monday last week where there were more than a thousand people. When they were asked “Who supports what the Government is doing?” three hands went up—three hands. Those people were very brave people. There were three of them but there is only one Nat here at the moment from Auckland; I think that is shocking. And then of course there is Nikki Kaye who is National’s answer to Barbie dolls and I think she should be here. Where is Melissa Lee? She has probably got cameras around taking videos for a campaign being paid for by the Government. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I hesitate to interrupt the Hon George Hawkins’s speech as pleasant as it is but if George Hawkins is going to engage in the important issue of running through who is not here from the National Party we may have to start doing the same and run through who is not here from the Labour Party because they are busy trying to secure Mt Albert. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: It certainly is Mr Deputy Speaker. You cannot comment on people who are not here which is what George Hawkins has been doing for 3 minutes. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Thank you for those points. Yes I ask the member to confine his comments to the setting up of this special select committee [ 
Interruption 
]—I am speaking. The member has on occasions mentioned members who are not here. Members are not allowed to talk about people who are not here so I ask the member to come back to the motion and confine his comments to that. 
Sue Kedgley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member who was speaking compared another member of this House to a Barbie doll and I find that offensive. I find it sexist and offensive. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: In that regard only the member who is affected by that can take offence under Standing Order 116. I understand the point you have made. If the member were here and took offence then that would be her prerogative. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I think it is very important that we look at the set-up of this select committee. National is not very confident so it has put up five members for the committee. It was going to be four but National is worried. There will be only three Labour members on the committee but I can tell the House that three Labour members outscore and outpoint five National members—of course they do. 
But let us see why this legislation is not going to the Local Government and Environment Committee. This motion is a vote of no confidence by National in that select committee which was set up to look at local government. National does not have confidence in that committee. The chairman the National member for West Coast - Tasman said today in the House that when the Local Government and Environment Committee gets rid of its current workload it will not have anything to do. So I ask why the legislation will not be going to the select committee already set up to examine it. It is because National does not have confidence in that committee. Then there is its deputy chair National list member Nicky Wagner. Well I cannot say that I blame National; I do not have much confidence in her either. 
We come to Nikki Kaye. What does she do all through select committee time? She is on the cellphone that latest Barbie doll accessory— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I have ruled that the member cannot use that term. I ask him to withdraw that. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I withdraw. She is on the cellphone all the time. 
Hon John Carter 
: I raise a point of order Mr Deputy Speaker. I distinctly heard you say that you asked the member to withdraw and he ignored— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: He did withdraw. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: What actually happens is that she sits there sending and receiving text messages and the real worry is about whether she is getting text messages from Government colleagues telling her what to do or ask. I think it is terrible if that happens; we cannot have people doing that. 
I am probably the only person in the House who went through the last reorganisation in Auckland and who was directly involved. I was Mayor of Papakura at the time. Some people will not disagree with what the Government is doing in Auckland—there needs to be change in Auckland—but the very big difference is that we have a bill coming up later on tonight that will castrate Auckland local bodies. Will anyone have anything to say? There will be a bit of yelling and screaming from the councils themselves but people will not have the opportunity to make submissions about the legislation to a select committee. 
David Garrett 
: Why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Because the bill will be passed under urgency tonight. I do not think the ACT member knows what is going on. 
We have this motion to change the way that local government things are dealt with and there will be a new select committee. Who came up with that decision? Was it the Hon Rodney Hide? He could not have taken it to Cabinet because he is not a Cabinet Minister. It could not have been John Carter because he is not a Cabinet Minister. Who was it? Was it the Hon Gerry Brownlee? Was it the Hon John Key? Or was it the Hon Bill English? Someone would have taken it after coming up with the idea. I think that the first bill later on tonight will get rid of those councils and from then on those councils will not be able to make any really big decisions. That is understandable. 
But who will be on the transition committee? 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Who? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Oh well I suspect Mark Weldon will be on it—the Prime Minister’s mate. John Key will have his mate on it. You know it is like Batman and Robin. I think Weldon is more like ribbon than Robin. However when we look at what is happening we see a Government that is bulldozing legislation through tonight. National is not too keen on using bulldozers to build tunnels as it will have to in Auckland but it is very interested in using bulldozers to knock over people’s homes. 
I am surprised that the Maori Party is supporting this legislation because that party has missed out. When it came to Maori representation Dr Sharples has been sold down the river by National. But Maori will get their people there and have a hikoi and they will be meeting in South Auckland in Papakura on Monday or Tuesday morning; I will be there. People are having a hikoi not because they are delighted with this Government or because they agree with it; the Maori Party the National Party and the ACT Party must remember that a lot of people are hugely dissatisfied at the way they are being treated. They are being treated as though they do not count. Well they do count; they count on election day. When it comes to election day they will remember. 
It is good to see Mr Peachey here because he can go back to his people in his electorate and tell them why they were not given the opportunity to speak on the legislation that will go through the House under urgency tonight. That is what the select committee should have done. It did not need to meet for a long time and we the Opposition would not have held it up for ages because we know the mechanics of things that have to get through. But at least we would have given people a chance to speak.