Jones Shane: General Debate 
Jones Shane: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2712] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 The korero the word in Auckland is to join the hikoi on 25 May to target all National MPs who have the misfortune of imposing themselves on Auckland because they have misled Auckland. They have promised representation and consultation and Rodney Hide and John Key have refused to front up with the people of Auckland. In fact today they have been reduced to putting up the “Mangrove Maid” they dug up to fill in space. There can be no representation for Auckland for as long as those members are quietly shafting the people who voted for them. How pathetic! 
We saw Dr Mapp and the Prime Minister wander around on Anzac Day talking about the virtues of soldiers and their military contribution. But the very ideals those soldiers sought to protect and safeguard Auckland National MPs deny Aucklanders the ability to enjoy. They have no opportunity to decide their own future. There is no consultation. Representation is driven by the corporate personal interests of the architects of this new scheme who are based in Auckland. It will never fly. 
Paul Quinn 
: Abraham Lincoln didn’t say that. 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: There are two valedictory speeches today actually. We are to hear from Dr Cullen and there is the late Mr Quinn who was beaten by Winston’s younger brother; at least there is now someone with talent style and looks in rugby union. 
Only one other National MP has to follow that double-dipping episode—that is Sam Lotu-Iiga. He needs to stand down from the Auckland City Council and stop being a lion at home and a lamb in the House. He is the very man who has a mandate to be on the Auckland City Council but he will not stand down and is misrepresenting its views. 
The major casualties of the Auckland debacle are Maori. Dr Pita Sharples promised as a consequence of forming that foul pact with the National Government that he would deliver better Maori representation. He has a standard to live up to. From 1986 to 1992 the Auckland Regional Authority had Maori representation under a Labour Government and then from the south came that gargoyle Warren Cooper and just like that it disappeared. He has been reincarnated in the form of the current younger members. There is a history of Maori representation in local government in Auckland. It was Labour’s Nganeko Minhinnick for Western Maori and Waerete Norman for Northern Maori Tau Henare and others. 
The two Maori members in Cabinet Georgina te Heuheu and Paula Bennett—Pita Sharples is not in Cabinet—quietly told their colleagues: “Do not go ahead with Maori representation. Do not advance it. Use Pita Sharples’ clumsy language and vague thinking as a basis for hiding the real agenda.” Well come the hikoi they will have to explain to obviously the Pakeha voters whom they have already offended and to their Maori partner as to why there can be no representation. 
Of course deeper than representation woes is the Government’s inability to explain how much this reform will cost. Will it be $500 $600 or $700 per ratepayer once these reforms go through? There is the inability to influence local government through representation which is definitely unwanted in relation to consultation. I say that the Government cannot get the issues of representation and tax the wrong way round. If it is to tax people in Auckland through the levy of a rate to cover the reform costs then it has to allow people to be represented. That is where the Government is failing. 
Why is the Government doing this? It has its secret quisling in the form of John Banks. As soon as a Cabinet meeting is over or maybe 5 10 or 15 minutes later he knows everything. Well that is easy because in terms of putting everything into that vacant mind of his that is an endless task. He is already wandering around saying: “There will never be Maori representation in Auckland. There will be my type of corporate-based privatisation personality-cult approach.” 
That approach suits our friends on the other side of the House. It certainly suits Mr Hide but there is a campaign under way. The community newspapers have said that democracy is worth defending. They have pointed out that every Auckland MP belonging to the National Party is toast.