Calder Cam: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Calder Cam: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11498] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 Talofa lava Mr Chairman. Kia ora I say to Mr Jones. It was an honour to serve from time to time on the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee on the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. I would like to pay credit to the hard work done by the regular members of the committee on both sides of the House and the quality of submissions received—submissions that this Government has listened to to such an extent that no finer authority than the royal  
New Zealand Herald  
said that the select committee has done a worthy job and that it now falls to Aucklanders to make the super-city work. It went on to say “it presents a workable framework for uniting Auckland that should have the support of Aucklanders.” This is something this Government has brought to fruition. 
The last years of the late unlamented Labour administration were a Faustian tragedy played out right here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here it was not just one individual who sold his or her soul but an entire caucus hell-bent on retaining power at any cost. It was a caucus characterised by fear loathing and mistrust and that was just with themselves within the caucus let alone any external agencies. It was a cavilling caucus querulous and lost sliding somnolently from lassitude and lethargy to contented catatonia and back again. Sadly there were no alchemists and no conjurors in this caucus—sadly no alchemists and no conjurors in this Faustian pact; no architects or visionaries for a brighter future; no advocates for hard-working New Zealand men and women; no attempts to address the glaring problems of Auckland governance until the dying days of a tottering failing administration. 
It is a point that was recognised by a member opposite who said: “We were very late coming to the party and doing something about it.” Instead hard-working New Zealanders were taxed mercilessly condemned to labour like Sisyphus day after day working without respite and taxed in more and more ingenious ways in an attempt to contain the insatiable lust for dollars to feed the blind dogma-driven tax-and-spend behemoth that was the previous Labour Government—a Government whose economic policies were such that New Zealand’s tradable sector in years of unparalleled economic prosperity underperformed and slid further and further behind year after year after year. Of course Mr Jones is going to ask me how useful— 
Phil Twyford 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I feel that the member opposite is undermining the dignity of the Committee with his speaking style. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Interesting! There is a question of relevance but I say to the member that this has been a pretty wide debate on many aspects of Auckland governance. Some of the words with which the member speaking has articulated and crystallised his ideas are words I have not heard before which is interesting but maybe the member with a minute and 44 seconds to go may talk about the bill. 
Dr CAM CALDER 
: Thank you very much Mr Chair; talofa lava again. How useful were the late unlamented Labour administration’s economic policies? I would submit they were as useful as a pair of clogs to a surfboard rider as useful as a green log to a huhu grub as useful as a return ticket on the  
Titanic 
. That is a particularly apt image because such was the economic mismanagement under Labour that the New Zealand economy sank year after year after year. Like the New Zealand economy the Auckland economy underperformed for years. The Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill will allow the new Auckland Council to foster economic growth think regionally plan strategically and act decisively. I commend this bill to the House.