Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3200] 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 The member Shane Jones who just sat down did not tell the House that those stony uninterested arrogant faces are of course all on that side of the House and that is the problem. If that speech was a bid for leadership then I have to say it was a very poor start. It worries me—it actually does worry me— 
Paul Quinn 
: Brought David down—David came down. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: Well that is right. Mr Cunliffe came down to make sure—[ 
Interruption 
] That is right. The other interesting thing about that last speech is that if we look at the election results up in Northland we see that Shane Jones did not win the vote in his own home town. He could not win the votes of his own family up north. They voted for National and they voted for John Carter. So I do not know how he will win the votes of the Labour caucus. 
The point we should really be concerned about is if Labour is taking this issue seriously why is the Leader of the Opposition not leading the debate? He may take a call later on—I do not know. But we have to ask ourselves why the Leader of the Opposition would not take a call or indeed why Labour would not start off the debate with its spokesperson on local government George Hawkins. How come the person who used to be the spokesperson—but is not now—is leading off the debate? That is the first point we need to make. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: The pretend leader. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: The pretend leader—that is true. There is one thing that is very important to say and to have put on the record. Mr Jones has made comment about the fact that we have not put in the legislation the issue of Maori seats. Well I want the House to know that Mr Jones told me as we were walking across the walkway from the Beehive to Parliament House: “Of course John you’ve got to understand that Labour wouldn’t have put the Maori seats in place either.” Labour would not have accepted the royal commission’s recommendation; Labour could not have done that. That came directly from Mr Shane Jones to me and we need to put it on the record. We need to put it on the record so that when those members stand up and speak we can remind them of what that member said to me about that issue. 
Paul Quinn 
: Scurry down! 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: Well he is still here. But that is the important thing. The next thing we need to ask is who actually ordered the royal commission. 
Hon Members 
: Labour! 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: Labour did. Labour members ordered the royal commission. They were too frightened to make a decision themselves so they kicked for touch. They decided to call for a royal commission rather than make decisions. The one point I want to make in this House tonight is that this Government this Prime Minister and this Minister of Local Government are not frightened to make decisions because we know that making decisions is absolutely essential for Auckland and for the future of this country. We have picked up what the royal commission said. It said there should be one council in Auckland and that is what this bill creates. We are not frightened to implement it; we think it is absolutely essential. What is more the Opposition spokesperson on local government agrees there should be one council and the member Ross Robertson agrees there should be one council. Indeed if we talk privately to most of those members most of them say “Yes there should be one council.” 
So what is this debate about? Oh it is because we are putting the bill through the House in urgency. That is the terrible misdemeanour we are doing. Well we must remember that this legislation just starts off the process. All it does is put in place one unitary authority for the Auckland area. It also makes sure that the local authorities currently in existence can function that their staff are looked after and that the people of Auckland can still be represented by the people whom they democratically elected at the last local government election and those conditions will endure during this local body term. But we want to make sure that when the new council is in place in 2010 it can govern Auckland. We do not expect it suddenly to have to put in place a structure that will allow it to govern Auckland. This bill allows that to happen. That is why we have put in a transition committee. Of course we need to take precautions so that someone does not make a decision that is out of step so the transition committee has the ability to step in. 
But the most important thing that we need to make sure is recorded in this House tonight is that this Government believes in putting “local” back into local government. Members on the other side—George Hawkins for example—also believe that we need to put “local” back into local government. I agree that we need to do that and that is exactly what will happen. 
Nikki Kaye 
: And he’s their local government spokesperson. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: He is the local government spokesperson for the Labour Party. He believes that; so do we. That is why the next bill we put before the House will allow the democratic process to take place so that Aucklanders’ voices can be heard and they can have their say. Quite honestly—much to the disappointment and amazement of the likes of Mr Shane Jones who is worried that this process actually will be democratic—this legislation is not going to be rammed through and the people of Auckland will have their say. We will be able to accommodate most of the wishes of the people of Auckland. The bill is on the Table. We want submissions. In fact we urge people to make submissions. We ask the people of Waitakere to please come to the special select committee and tell us what their needs are and tell us what their board’s functions should be. We ask the people of Papakura and Waiheke to let us know their views. We want to hear from them so that those matters can be considered. 
Indeed we are not prescribing the functions of the boards. We are leaving it up to the people of Auckland to tell Parliament and this Government what functions will be in their interests from a local perspective. We think it is absolutely important that their voices are heard and reflected in the legislation that is to follow. For that reason we have set up a special select committee. We will be working with the people of Auckland. We will be working with the communities of Waiheke Waitakere and Papakura and with other communities. We will ask them what they would expect from their local boards. I ask members to remember that we will not allow the unitary authority to say yes or no; we will prescribe in law those functions that the communities have asked for. They will be prescribed in law. 
Nikki Kaye 
: And we’re doing public meetings. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: You bet. We are having a whole series of public meetings. We will have a whole series of select committee hearings in Auckland on the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill. The Local Government Commission will be holding a whole series of discussions in Auckland. And the third bill will include a whole lot of details about how it all works. It is impossible to say that this is not consultation as it should be. It is exactly what should be happening. Parliament should be listening. The silly suggestion that we should hold some sort of referendum with some sort of wording would not solve the problem at all. The fact is that this Government recognises as do most members of Parliament that there is a problem with local government in Auckland. Even the local government leaders in Auckland know that there is a problem with local governance in Auckland. Bob Harvey recently spoke out about that fact and apologised to his people— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: He’s always apologising. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: He has apologised a lot about the fact that they have mucked up Auckland for so long. He at least has had the decency to front up and say they have got it wrong. He and other mayors have said we should get on with this change. They want to have a roading network that works for Auckland. They want to make sure that Auckland has a water supply system that supplies the demands of Auckland. They want to make sure that in terms of social issues work on which will be led by the Hon Paula Bennett people are listened to and supported. All those sorts of things will happen. Members opposite and other opponents of this change are concerned because we are doing exactly what they asked us to do. They have been asking us to listen and that is exactly what this Government will be doing. Over the next 6 9 12 and 15 months we will be out there listening to hearing and implementing the wishes of the people of Auckland. I do not think we can do better than that.