Mapp Wayne: General Debate 
Mapp Wayne: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2543] 
Hon Dr WAYNE MAPP (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. I acknowledge the valedictory speech of Helen Clark today. It can be fairly said that she is the author of New Zealand’s independent foreign policy and by and large that now has wide wide support both within the community and within this Parliament. But one thing I have to ask is why she was not generous enough to acknowledge the new leader of the Labour Party. Does that mean she thinks he will fail that he will not make it to the 2011 election or that maybe she has even forgotten his name? It was I thought quite remarkable and it will have been observed by many people across this nation. 
The speech by the leader of the Labour Party in relation to the Royal Commission on Auckland’s Governance just showed how out of touch he really is. The difference is this: this week the National-led Government—with ACT in particular because Rodney Hide is the Minister of Local Government—has made decisions. 
Aucklanders expected us to make decisions because there have been months of debate intense discussion and hearings by the royal commission. Every politician in this House from Auckland knows that full well. They have been following the debate and have been close to the communities that they represent. Every one of them is agreed that the existing structure is inadequate and that there should be a single city across the region. That is essential for this reason: we have one of the finest harbours in the world; we have simply failed to realise that potential. Anyone who goes to the waterfront will know its scruffy nature. It was not surprising to me that Mr Bob Harvey said that he and other politicians in the Auckland region owed New Zealand and Auckland an apology. They have failed Auckland through having a deficient structure to fix that up. I know that Maryan Street who at least was previously from Auckland knows the truth of that. It was essential to move on that issue and I think there is wide consensus on the single city structure. 
The debate essentially settled on the second tier. Let me also be clear about this: it is obvious from the royal commission and from all the debate that there should be only two tiers. There is no question of having more tiers than that. 
Over the last week I have received hundreds of emails from across North Shore on the future of the community boards. On Monday night I went to the Devonport Community Board meeting. The voices of those at the meeting were absolutely clear that they wanted the retention of their community board. Why is that? It is because the residents of Devonport and Bayswater know that if they want an issue resolved in their particular region it is the community board that deals with it. It is not the wider North Shore City Council but the community board. 
I tell members that if I want to know something about Devonport that I may not personally know myself—although being resident in the area I usually do—I immediately ring Mike Cohen the chair of the board and ask him what he thinks about an issue or what people are thinking about an issue although by and large I will already have some sense of it. What I do not do is to ring the mayor because he represents 220000 people. It is that attachment to the community board that people value. That is the message I have been getting over many many months and it certainly came through very clearly over the last 10 days. 
The Government has listened to that message. I know I have not been alone in hearing that message I might add. Many other politicians have heard precisely the same message. Mr Maurice Williamson relayed to his colleagues very clearly and very explicitly the same message from his community. So did the Hon Judith Collins. She relayed exactly that same message. So did Pansy Wong. All of us have received the message that people want connectivity to their local community through representation. The Government has acted because the consultation has been done.