Hutchison Paul: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6385] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. I must say we have heard a very confused and inaccurate account from Su’a William Sio because he is the man who said “Waiuku in Pukekohe out.” Well he is totally wrong about that. He has been on the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee but he has not even got the basic facts right. 
Hon John Carter 
: He couldn’t find Pukekohe. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: That is right. It took him several hours before he finally made it there. He got there one afternoon I believe. 
This bill does include the formation of the new Auckland Council established as a unitary authority and of course it deals with the council’s boundaries. The southern boundary is of huge importance to the electorate I represent Hunua and particularly to the people of Franklin. As soon as the royal commission had reported and the Government had made its response I called two meetings. One of those meetings happened to be in the northern part of the Hunua electorate between Beachlands and a place called Omana. I must say that 30 to 40 people turned up a very low turnout given the importance of this issue. The one thing that they expressed was that they wished to ensure that a rurally orientated board finally represented the rural part of their electorate. The others were quite happy and content to go to Manukau. But the  
Pohutakawa Coast Times 
 
in its editorial and on the front page of the paper said the issue was ho-hum; that is all it said. 
The next day I had a meeting up in Pukekohe. It was hardly advertised but 700 people turned up. They had some very very important messages. They were loud and clear and they were passionate in their messages. They wanted to keep Franklin intact. They also wanted to keep the name of Franklin although the royal commission of course had wanted to change it to Hunua. Hunua is a name that translates into the meaning “high infertile ground” which is diametrically opposed to the rich fertile soils of Franklin that produce so much of the food that goes to the good people of Auckland and elsewhere in New Zealand. 
Subsequently the Franklin District Council put up the proposition of a unitary authority separate from the new Auckland Council. I believe it had a very good case that was supported by four polls held over a period of 18 months which showed that more than 85 percent of the population supported it in its bid to have a unitary authority. I must say it was always going to be a hard call. The royal commission had not supported that and the Government’s response did not support it either. I must say a very strong case was led by a passionate council and a passionate mayor Mayor Mark Ball. They argued that they supported local government being reorganised in urban Auckland but that it was inappropriate to extend Auckland City beyond the northern boundary of the existing Franklin District; that Auckland’s urban problems were not Franklin’s; that Franklin had its own water supply its own sewerage and its own stormwater system that were separate from Auckland’s; and that it was imperative to safeguard the class I and class II soils that provide the food basket to Auckland and of course to the rest of New Zealand. This is what Franklin is famous for. Indeed the mayor and council were passionate in terms of wanting to ensure that Franklin could be separate from Auckland. 
I supported the submission of the Franklin District Council to become a separate unitary authority and I worked hard with such luminaries as Sir William Birch Lindsay Tisch the excellent MP from Waikato Mayor Mark Ball and numerous others to see whether this was viable. But in our New Zealand democracy which I celebrate—many of those in the Labour Opposition who have just given us 9 years of the nanny State do not celebrate this—other voices were nevertheless opposed to Franklin being separate. They included Federated Farmers interests in the Karaka area interests in the Pokeno area and the chair of the Waiuku/Awhitu Community Board. There were also Tainui Environment Waikato and Waikato District Council who were concerned about catchment and Treaty issues. 
The Hon John Carter took the time to come to Franklin to hear the concerns of the local people and so did many National members. But on balance the Government decided to oppose the idea of a unitary authority for Franklin. But I will make this point: not one member of the Labour caucus was prepared to put his or her head above the parapet to support the Franklin District Council’s submission. Labour members go on and on about the boundaries but they failed to be clear or concise in terms of what they wanted. Where were Labour’s South Auckland MPs? I can see the Hon George Hawkins across the Chamber. He was not to be seen. There was no sight of or sound from him. The same goes for Ross Robertson and as I said earlier on Su’a William Sio had a great deal of trouble in even finding Pukekohe. 
The only realistic options remaining were to go to the Waikato River as the boundary as the royal commission had suggested with Environment Waikato taking on the catchment responsibilities or to stick with the old Auckland Regional Council boundary which cut through Colombo Road in Waiuku and the back of the racecourse in Pukekohe. Many people including myself described this as absolutely the worst of all options. I know and have confidence that the Local Government Commission will push those boundaries south. I know that will happen and I do not believe anyone in this Chamber would oppose that. But again this time there was vigorous debate with Federated Farmers the Auckland Regional Council the Waiuku/Awhitu Community Board members of Enterprise Franklin the arts boards and many others supporting the royal commission’s proposal. But many others did not support that take. 
Unfortunately the Franklin District Council did not have a formal fall-back position because it was so deeply disappointed at not maintaining a separate unitary authority. But one would have noted that today Mayor Mark Ball was reported in the  
New Zealand Herald  
as saying the existing southern boundary is better than moving the boundary to the Waikato River as at least it has some sound rationale behind it and is not just the result of political interference. 
My own view was that the principle that should be followed was that if a unitary authority was not possible to keep as much of the existing Franklin intact as possible. However in the end a decision had to be made and the Government has done that. Clearly some of our people will be pleased but many others are deeply disappointed. There has been vigorous debate and vigorous consultation. There will be a new Franklin board not a Hunua board with strengthened functions. At the very least the boundaries must go south of Pukekohe and Waiuku and no one can say that a huge effort has not been made to keep Franklin intact.