Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — First Reading 
Sio Su'a William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3747] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to speak tonight. If I sound emotional tonight I make no apology for it. In fact for the past few days quite a lot of emotion has been released by all sides of the House on this matter. It is a very significant matter in terms of the people whom I represent and the communities I represent in Mangere and Manukau City. I have been to many funerals of friends and relatives—people whom I cherish and are dear to me. I am using this point as a preface before I get on to the bill. Those funerals have all been very sad occasions but our debate over the establishment by this Government of a super-city without it asking Aucklanders about it has deeply hurt me. I say to this House that that hurt is a reflection of how the communities throughout Manukau City and Waitakere feel about the actions of this Government. In fact they feel that it is an outrage that they have not been given the opportunity to have a say. It may be that they would agree to the proposal. 
That is the reason why I stand tonight to acknowledge and thank all of my Labour colleagues and the other parties—the Greens and to some extent the Maori Party—for holding this Government to account. That is what we have asked for—that it gives Aucklanders the opportunity to have a say. Often in this debate there has been outrage from the other side of the House but the outrage that I feel and that I suspect is felt by many throughout Auckland is that the action of this Government can be described as criminal in many senses. We have had two senior members of the Government—Mr Key the honourable Prime Minister and the honourable Minister of Local Government—holding a gun to the head of the mayors and councillors and saying “Click! Bang! We’ve got the numbers. That’s why we’re doing this.” That is a sign of the sheer arrogance of this Government after only 6 months of being in power. 
For those who are listening I say that Labour has fought tooth and nail to hold this Government to account. Labour has fought hard to ensure that the bills that this Government is introducing in urgency are examined because the National and ACT Government’s undemocratic plans deserve to be given back to the people. 
So we come to the bill. There are four parts and 24 clauses. The member for Manurewa George Hawkins held up an advertisement earlier that had been paid for by the Parliamentary Service—by taxpayers. It is advertising a series of meetings. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: Yes. It is an outrage. It is advertising a series of meetings that are to be held in the next few months by the Government in the Auckland region.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: After it’s gone through. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: After it has been done exactly—after the fact. Here is the advertisement. It states “Have Your Say …”. This advertisement is deceptive because the main decision has already been made. But here is the other concern: eight meetings are being held in the area of the current Auckland City Council and the fear and concern we have is that these meetings are campaign meetings for John Banks by this Government. In Manukau and Waitakere there is only one meeting. There is one meeting for the 380000 people living in Manukau which is the third-largest city in New Zealand—one meeting. I have to ask whether that is a sign of things to come as a result of this Government and the super-city. 
I lament the loss of my city and of four mayors: the late Hugh Lambie; the late Sir Lloyd Elsmore; Sir Barry Curtis who served 24 years; and now Len Brown the Mayor of Manukau City. I lament the loss of the three councillors who represent Mangere. I lament the loss of eight community boards made up of local people who live in the area. With the stroke of Mr Hide’s pen those local government bodies exist in name only. The power rights authority and privilege are being given to three or four people picked specifically by that Minister. 
In Part 1 the purpose clause talks about defining Auckland. Clause 5 talks about the “Meaning of Auckland”. That clause does not define clearly what Auckland is about. It is about more than just an area; it is about the people who live there. It is about the diversity there the languages that are spoken the various events that are held regularly in Manukau for example. Our concern now is about what will happen to our Polyfest which started at the old school of Sir Edmund Hillary now called Hillary College. What will happen to that? What will happen to our Asian and ethnic events that are currently being held in Manukau and funded by Manukau City? The Auckland Transition Agency now has control of all that because it has the same powers as if there were a super-city. That is a deep concern. 
I say to this Government that if it had any sincerity—which I have yet to see—about consultation it would take the select committee consultation back to Auckland. It would take it to all seven different sectors of Auckland. 
Part 2 talks about the mayor and grants his or her executive powers. There is grave concern about the at-large election of the mayor and the substantial powers that are given to the mayor. The questions that we want answered are about how we will choose that mayor. Will it be by first past the post? Will it be by the single transferable vote system? Will it be by preferential voting? These are the questions our communities will be asking this Government. That is a decision that they have to make. 
The executive powers of this mayor are of deep concern to us. This mayor will appoint his buddies and friends to be deputy mayor and chairpersons of committees. Too much power in the hands of one person is not a good thing. We know what has happened in other situations like that. Power corrupts and we do not think that is right. I liken the super-city to a canoe that will take us to the future. If that be the case then all people need to be on board and everyone needs to be paddling in the same direction. 
There will be only 20 people on this council. Eight will be elected at large and only the rich and wealthy will be able to stand for those positions. What about ordinary workers and families in our community? What about Maori? The Maori Party says that Labour has betrayed Maori. That is an outrage. We are the ones who have been demanding that this Government be held to account to ensure that there are Maori seats Pacific seats and representation of Asian and other ethnic groups on this local council. 
What about the local boards’ powers? Local boards cannot simply go cap in hand to the council and ask for the resources and things that local government bodies need for local communities. It is not just about dogs prostitutes and gambling—although some members on the other side of the House might enjoy those things. It is not just about that. 
Finally I will say three things. I say to Government members that if they are sincere they need to give the people of Auckland time to consult on these bills. The Government needs to do that. It needs to give them time to develop quality submissions. Not everyone is familiar with the select committee process and I do not want to see this Government go out there and select only its friends the business elite to come and debate this. We need to allow every single member of those communities of ours to debate this in their own languages if need be.