Hughes Gareth: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Hughes Gareth: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11501] 
GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 Talofa lava. If we ask any Aucklander about local issues inevitably transport will be high on the list. Images of cars stuck in traffic are as identifiably an icon of Auckland as Rangitoto or the Sky Tower. I am very glad to take a call tonight to discuss how the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill relates to transport. I am concerned about this because I believe this Committee is walking into a system that will encourage us to use the same ideas that got Auckland into its mess to also get it out. The Green Party strongly opposes this bill because it takes away Aucklanders’ democratic rights and their access to more transparent and open decision-making and because it will deliver worse transport options for Aucklanders. This legislation like the Government’s Auckland transport folly—the $1.7 billion Puhoi to Wellsford holiday highway—is being rammed through way too fast like a 53-tonne juggernaut truck. It is being pushed for purely ideological and political reasons as opposed to genuine community demand and input and it will deliver benefits for just a few not the majority. 
This legislation will have a massive bearing on how people and freight get around our biggest city and I fear that like the holiday highway this big political gamble will deliver missed opportunities and worse public transport options. The major feature is the new Auckland transport council-controlled organisation. It will collect more than half the total rates take and will have considerable power and influence. I fear there will be too little transparency too little accountability and not enough democratic involvement. It will be by far the most powerful transport agency in the country and it will manage not just public transport services and walking and cycling which regional councils do but also improvements to local roads footpaths and regional arterial routes which are currently managed by local councils. Clearly Auckland needs to take an integrated approach to transport but this bill corporatises transport activities and removes the council’s control and democratic decision-making. 
I acknowledge that the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee has improved some aspects of the unpopular council-controlled organisation structure but the bill still fails in numerous respects. The initial board will be chosen by the Minister of Transport rather than by the current regional transport local politicians. Sure the council-controlled organisation will be slightly more representative—the Auckland Council can fire directors from day one and it will appoint the chair and deputy chair of the board—but Steven Joyce will be setting the initial direction and we know how pro-roads and how pro-motorways he is even in the case of uneconomic ones. Transport is one of the biggest issues that faces voters in Auckland and this legislation takes away the democratic leadership needed on this crucial issue and gives it to Steven Joyce’s appointees. On transport Auckland needs leadership not more bureaucrats. 
One of the minor improvements in this bill was that the transport council-controlled organisation now has to take into account Auckland Council’s statement of intent for transport and act in accordance with the wishes of the Auckland Council. But we should have just let the Auckland Council decide like other councils do what is appropriate for Auckland. 
An important question is how the council-controlled organisation will interact with the local boards. The risk is of course that local decision-making and local democracy will be emasculated and ignored by this bill. I find it hard to believe that the local boards will be able to influence the transport council-controlled organisation through a plan that is published every 3 years. That is a pretty weak tool. 
Lastly and perhaps most important this bill fails to link land-use planning and transport planning together which sets Auckland up for failure. By taking away the Auckland Council’s role in transport planning—even taking away its ability to choose the most appropriate structure for the region—this bill will see Auckland heading in different directions. The bill creates a siloed system in which the Auckland Council will have to work very hard to keep the council-controlled organisations together. The need for it to do so will be reinforced further by the physical distances that were recently announced between the various entities which will see the integrated functions split between the council office downtown the council’s policy and planning team based on the North Shore the infrastructure team in Mount Roskill and the transport council-controlled organisation based in Henderson. 
In short this bill does not deliver for Aucklanders does not deliver for transport and will see Aucklanders stuck on their congested motorways.