Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3708] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 It is unbelievable. The Opposition is attempting to assist Government members who have been complaining and complaining that we have been dragging it out and when we say “OK why don’t we move on?” they vote against it. It is absolutely unbelievable. Maybe we could call this the “Absolute Shambles and What the Hell is the Leader of the House Doing Bill” because Government members do not know whether they are Arthur or Martha. 
I have a lot of suggestions for alternative titles for this legislation. The first would be the “Why Should Aucklanders Get a Say When Tories Know Best Bill”. I think that really sums up this legislation being rammed through all stages under urgency with no select committee which obliterates eight democratically elected councils overnight. It is unbelievable; maybe we could just call it the “Democracy is So Tiring Bill” because I think that is how National members feel about it. For them it is tiring having to stay here at Parliament to vote on things even though that is what we are paid to do. It is tiring to go out and talk to people. Democracy makes us really really quite tired and we can see the bags under Mr Brownlee’s eyes. 
My next name is a very important one because it relates to the amendment Labour tried to put up to secure paid parental leave for the employees of local authorities. We could probably call it the “Gerry Brownlee Does Not Understand How Paid Parental Leave Works Bill”. We tried to explain to him that when we move to this transition agency the women working there will effectively have a new employer which means that their paid parental leave entitlement does not carry over. Mr Brownlee said that we should not put a provision about that in the bill because we do not need to put in a provision to say that the residential speed limit is 50 kilometres an hour. I not sure whether Mr Brownlee knows that the residential speed limit does not change when someone changes employer. That is a crucial difference between the speed limit and paid parental leave. He might want to go and talk to the Minister of Transport about that get a briefing and have it explained to him. 
The bill could be called the “Gerry Brownlee (Trust Me I Know What I Am Doing) Bill”. He said the paid parental leave provisions were going to go to a select committee. But the fact is we are passing this legislation now. It will come into force whenever this sitting of Parliament lifts. We were asking him why he did not put in a really simple clause that clarifies what apparently the Government members claim—that they do not expect the entitlement to go. Let us just put that in the bill to clarify it. Mr Brownlee says that that part does not come in until November 2010 anyway and by then we will have passed the other legislation. With the greatest respect to the Leader of the House given his control of the House this week I am not entirely convinced that those other pieces of legislation can be expected to be passed by November 2010. I think it is a great leap of faith for the women who work for the Auckland City Council to say: “That’s all right. Mr Brownlee is so much in control of the House that this will not be a problem and the legislation fixing it up will be passed.” 
The next very important amendment Labour put up was to ensure Maori representation on the transition agency. Maybe since the Maori Party opposed it we could call this bill the “Iwi Versus Kiwi Bill” because we are seeing the same old National Party. I just want to point out to my colleagues in the Maori Party and the Green Party that Labour did try to make that part stand alone. We tried to make that part for Maori representation stand on its own without the other representation for Pacific and Asian people but the Clerk told us we could not do it and that the only way we could get it up was to combine it. I want to say because we are criticised by Maori Party colleagues for putting the others in with Maori that we tried. 
At least Labour did try because I did not see other amendments on the Table from parties that were accusing us of not doing enough for Maori representation; only Labour put up amendments on the Table to ensure Maori representation. I think it is important that that goes on the record. 
Labour also put up an amendment to make sure that public assets could not be sold by this transition agency. National opposed that so let us call the bill the “Sell the Family Silver Bill”. One of the assets we are talking about is Auckland Airport. Do members remember what the National Party said about Auckland Airport when Labour stepped in to ensure that it stayed in New Zealand hands? National members were up in arms and then they sit here in this Chamber and expect us to believe that they care about the public retention of assets. The situation we find ourselves in is absolutely incredible. It is rotten rotten legislation by a rotten-to-the-core Government that is showing its true colours.