Sio Su'a William:  
Sio Su'a William:  
[Volume:654;Page:65] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Labour has consistently advocated throughout the past few days that Aucklanders need to have a say on the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill. We said it at the beginning we said it in the debate on Part 2 and we say it again in the debate on Part 3 because it is Aucklanders who will be affected by the changes that this bill brings about. 
Clause 10 establishes the Auckland Transition Agency whether Aucklanders like it or not. Labour will be looking to amend the name of that agency because believe it or not people ought to be given the right to choose for themselves the appropriate name for this Auckland agency. There are many different possible names and we will convey to this Committee through our amendments important names that have historical linkages to the Auckland region at large. But we will also give the Committee different names just to get up the nose of the Minister of Local Government who has kept us here so late and is trying to ram this bill down the throats of Aucklanders. 
Clause 11 establishes that the governing body of the Auckland Transition Agency will have only three or four people and it gives it all of the power privileges and authority of the transition agency which it can use for whatever it likes. The public of Manukau—and I suspect much of the public throughout Auckland—are very worried about this agency and the powers and authority being given to it and they are particularly worried that its governing body will be made up of only three or four people. We heard earlier the suspicion that Christine Rankin might chair the governing body but I read in the  
National Business Review 
 that it is possible that Mark Ford the chief executive officer of Watercare Services will be the chair. There are some concerns if that is to be the case and I ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Rodney Hide to declare to the Committee what his relationship with Mr Mark Ford is whether he would have any conflict of interest if Mr Mark Ford were appointed to chair the governing body and whether Mr Mark Ford if he is appointed the chair will relinquish his role with Watercare Services. That issue is of concern and Labour will introduce to the Committee some amendments that would ensure that other stakeholders were part of the governing body. 
It is of concern to us not only that supreme authority and power are being given to a small group of people but also that clause 22 requires that the agency report only to Mr Hide and Mr English. To me that smacks of central government trying to impose its will on local government. When we look at the personalities involved in this agency we see that it seems to be a jack-up by the business elite who are looking at ways to sell off the $28 billion worth of assets that have been built up throughout the 44 years of Manukau’s existence. People like Sir Barry Curtis and the late Sir Lloyd Elsmore have spent their lives hearts and passion building up those assets so that ordinary workers right throughout our city could get the benefits of them. I refer to assets like the airport shares and our undeveloped land. Manukau is one of the last areas of the Auckland region that has numerous land tracts that have not yet been developed—land tracts like Ambury Park in Mangere Bridge and Sir Barry Curtis Park out in Flat Bush. What will happen to those land tracts if the agency is run by a small group of elitist business people—wealthy people—who do not care about ordinary workers? They will be looking to sell off those areas as quickly as possible. 
In the olden days in Samoa when people would go to war the winning side was referred to as itu-malo. After the winning side had killed off the people it destroyed all the plantations. Part 3 seems to me to do the same thing.