Street Maryan: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Street Maryan: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3638] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 Speaking to the amendment to insert new Part 10 in the name of Carol Beaumont I draw attention to a couple of points in particular. First of all the members opposite are of the view that these amendments are vexatious and they are expressing some irritation that the Opposition should be bringing such amendments to the Committee. Nothing could be further from the truth. The point is that we have been opposing this bill because it is an affront to democracy and because it is an affront to the rights of the people of Auckland. 
This amendment in particular although not addressing the democratic rights in substance actually goes to the question of something that is even as profound as Aucklanders’ democratic rights. It goes to the question of the working conditions and the security of the people who work within local government services in Auckland. That is the issue. That is why I say to Mr Power who is now the Minister in the chair this could in no way be considered a vexatious amendment. It is nothing of the sort. 
In fact I draw to the attention of the Committee the Government’s voting on matters such as this even as recently as last night. The Government voted down amendments that asked for the views of women of Maori of Pasifika and of people of different ethnicities to be represented in the consideration of the Auckland Transition Agency. 
This amendment gives the Government a chance to reconsider the mistakes it made last night. The effect of what the Government did last night was to forbid women Maori Pasifika and other interest groups to have any kind of consultation on or representation in the activities of the Auckland Transition Agency. Time and time again the Opposition put up amendments that asked for the Minister of Women’s Affairs to be consulted and for the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs to be consulted. The amendments did not even go as far as to call for a poll although there was a moment when we did call for one. In fact the amendments asked just that the Ministers responsible for the portfolios of women Pasifika people with disabilities and ethnic affairs be consulted in the process. 
The Government voted against every one of those amendments. That needs to be sheeted home to the Government because we will be talking about that around Auckland for years to come. This amendment gives the Government another opportunity to do the right thing. We are looking for some protection for the workers who provide the public services administered through local government in Auckland. 
Is it too much to ask of this National Government that there should be good and safe working conditions that there should be equal employment opportunity programmes that the aspirations and aims of the Maori people should be recognised that there should be opportunities for the enhancement of the abilities of individual employees that there should be recognition of the aims and aspirations of ethnic or minority groups or that there should be some recognition of the employment requirements of women—including paid parental leave? 
The Government now has an opportunity to do the right thing to take notice of the progress that has been made in employment law in the last 9 years to recognise the rights of our workforce in Auckland and the differences in its composition—especially in relation to the workforce in local government—and to defend its rights to those provisions I spoke about. If the Government proceeds to oppose each of these parts of the bill—these amendments I should say based on the procedural debate that has just taken place—and if it votes down this part then it can expect all 6500 of the workers in local government in Auckland to know which side their bread is buttered on. That will be a very clear indication of what this Government stands for.