Strange JamieLOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2002 AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)In CommitteeDebate resumed from 24 September.Part 1 Amendments to Local Government Act 2002 (continued)JAMIE STRANGE (Labour): As you can see I'm incredibly excited to speak about this piece of legislation as this Government gets on with fixing nine years of neglect of a range of areas including local government. In this committee stage I'd like to specifically focus in on the bill and I have some questions for the Minister in the chair the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and I'm speaking to the aspect of Supplementary Order Paper 323 that amends Schedule 2 which sets out amendments to Schedule 3 of the principal Act to limit who can submit a reorganisation initiative or investigation request to the commission to affected local authorities the Minister or groups—and here's the key point I want to narrow down into—or persons comprising at least 10 percent of electors in the affected area.So what I understand that to mean is that if somebody within an area would like a reorganisation of council—and often the word reorganisation" is used with the word "amalgamation" synonymous with "amalgamation"—so if that person would like reorganisation/amalgamation then they need to have a petition of 10 percent of the electors in order for that request to be put to the Local Government Commission. Now my question is around that 10 percent threshold. First of all I'd like to know why the Minister settled on 10 percent; 10 percent does seem like quite a high threshold. If we look at the average ward I know in the Hamilton area there are probably around 40000 in the ward. So you'd be looking at 4000 signatures on that petition. So the question is: why the 10 percent mark? Why not five why not 15 why you know not 20? So that's my first question: why that 10 percent?My second question is: is that 10 percent taken from the one ward or the two three four five wards that this person would like to amalgamate? So for example—I suppose I'll link it to the Hamilton area—the Hamilton East ward; so if the petitioner's from the Hamilton East ward and they want to amalgamate that with Hamilton West Waikato Waipā amalgamate those councils and we know they need to receive 10 percent—Tim van de Molen: Oh promoting amalgamation. Ha ha!—here we go; this'll go down well.JAMIE STRANGE: I'm not proposing amalgamation so don't get too excited there sir. I'm just asking the question: do the 4000 signatures only have to come from the one ward or can they get them from surrounding wards—for example one from Hamilton East one from West one from Waipā one from Waikato—to make up that 4000? So a little bit of clarification around that would be helpful. The other aspect I'd like to know is—certainly obviously related to that—is that 10 percent of all available electors? I assume it is but I'm focusing on the point that only around 30 to 40 percent vote. So you know is it 10 percent of those who regularly vote or is it 10 percent of the whole ward?The next question I have around the petition is what type of petition can that resident submit? So traditionally petitions have been written where people might stand outside supermarkets or train stations or various places and people sign on the piece of paper and then that submission is presented and in this case the submission would obviously be presented to the Local Government Commission. However can that elector submit that petition online? We are you know in an ever-changing world and most people in New Zealand do have access to the internet although maybe not with the live streaming speeds that we need at times. But can that submission be presented online or does it have to be in terms of a written—yeah I don't see any clarification in the bill so I'd just like to know the form of that petition.So I guess just to summarise the first question is around the 10 percent threshold; so first of all why the 10 percent threshold? We have heard from a number of councils that they're not interested in the amalgamation. Is this 10 percent in a way sort of giving certainty to councils saying "We're going to set the bar high so you can relax around the aspect of amalgamation."? Then the second question links to those 10 percent—just in one ward or all of the wards whom they would like to amalgamate? Then thirdly what type of petition so whether it's a written petition or can that petition be online; some sort of like Change.org-type website for example. So I'll just leave those questions with the Minister and I look forward to the Minister's response. Thank you."