Sio William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 June 2013. Volume:690;Page:10793. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): Talofa lava Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you for the—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): O a mai oe?Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Manuia fa’afetai.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Fa’afetai lava.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: That is enough now. My apologies Mr Assistant Speaker. Your Samoan is wonderful as always. It is just that we have moved from Samoan Language Week into the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2). But I do want to thank you for the reminder. Let me just say to all of the House that I thank you very much for your support of Samoan Language Week last week. I note that you Mr Assistant Speaker because you represent an electorate with a huge proportion of Samoan population cannot help but continue to speak Samoan on a regular basis. So fa’afetai tele lava lau afioga le Fofoga Fetalai.I rise on behalf of Labour to speak at the first reading of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) 2013. As the Minister of Local Government has outlined eloquently the bill is to amend the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 to enable local boards established under the Act to delegate responsibilities duties or powers conferred or allocated to them under the Act. Currently local boards are able to delegate many of their responsibilities duties or powers to a committee a member of the local board or an officer of the local council under the local government regulations. As the Minister has outlined the end of the transitional period after which this regulation was to expire is 31 October this year after the 2013 local body elections on 12 October.The bill provides that a local board to which the governing body has delegated a responsibility duty or power may without confirmation by the governing body exercise or perform the responsibility duty or power in the same manner and with the same effect as the governing body could itself have exercised or performed it. The bill also provides that no such delegation relieves the governing body of the liability or legal responsibility to perform or ensure the performance of any responsibility or duty.The bill provides for delegations by local boards without relieving the local board of the liability or legal responsibility to perform or ensure the performance of any responsibility or duty and provides that for the purposes of efficiency and effectiveness in the conduct of a local board’s business a local board may delegate to a committee a member of the local board or subcommittee or an officer of the Auckland Council any of its responsibilities duties and powers except—now I want to make the point—the duty to identify and communicate the interests and preferences of the people in its local board area in relation to the content of the strategies policies plans and by-laws of the Auckland Council; and except the power to propose a by-law or an amendment to a by-law; except the power to confirm a by-law or modify a proposed by-law; except the power to propose the revocation of a by-law; except the duty to adopt the local board plan for its area; except the duty to agree the local board agreement for its area with the governing body of the Auckland Council; and except the power to apply to the Local Government Commission for a binding determination in respect of a dispute between itself and the governing body; and a responsibility duty or power that this Act or any other Act expressly provides may not be delegated.I emphasise those points as outlined in the proposed bill and I agree that Labour will support this bill. It is a technical bill. It is an initiative by the Auckland Council and really is just a continuation of the existing powers that it currently has. I would like to see that when it comes to the select committee process there be some consideration given in light of what we have seen of late in some quarters of local government. This is really to do with risk management. Although I agree that the delegation of powers is a necessary part of enabling local boards enabling many of us to conduct our affairs efficiently and effectively we do also have to consider the risk management particularly in the cases where we may rely too much on those whom we have endowed with the powers and responsibilities. There have been recent examples that come to mind which I do not want to dwell on at this particular time but I think there has been some concern raised that often we have seen on the appearance of it too much validating legislation due to mistakes or incompetence or due to those who have delegated authority simply sleeping at the wheel.Notwithstanding that we believe that this bill simply allows for the local board—the council officials in Auckland in particular—to get on with the business of representing and serving their local communities. In Auckland there are about 149 local board members. I can say with much assurance that it is a 24/7 job. The local board members work tirelessly on behalf of their constituencies. I know in particular that in the Māngere and Ōtara local board areas our teams do a wonderful job of representing our community and are articulating and advocating on behalf of our community. On the Māngere and Ōtara local boards we have some old hands who have been around with a wealth of experience but also we have some young local board members coming through such as Lydia Sosene who is a passionate articulate hard-working local board member for our communities. So I want to acknowledge the local boards in Auckland for their work.I think this is also a good time to acknowledge Auckland Council in particular when you consider the work and effort that it has put in. It has worked extremely hard despite times being tough. Times have been tough for our ratepayers—high unemployment few jobs the rising cost of power bills increases in petrol—Hon Maryan Street: Provocation by the Government.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Absolutely. Despite this Auckland Council is getting on with its work. It wants to deliver a livable city for Aucklanders. It wants to get on with delivering jobs higher incomes and economic development and providing opportunities for our young people. Auckland wants to get on with the work in hand andnot play the Wellingtonian political gamesmanship that this Government seems to be content doing. This bill ensures there is certainty for local boards to carry out their role and I think it is important to acknowledge that.I want to say that I think Chris Tremain the Minister of Local Government is such a nice guy. In delivering the legislation tonight I would say that he is probably one of the best Ministers who is well placed to lead local government at this point in time. I would rather see him who is prepared to listen to Auckland Council than the likes of Mr Smith who frankly has just been a bully. He has been a bully. I have to say in this day and age where we do not accept bullies in our homes where we do not accept bullies in our schools or in our workplaces why on earth would Aucklanders accept the kind of Minister and the behaviour that Mr Smith is displaying and the bullying tactics that he has shown Auckland? Why? It is ludicrous when you consider he spent 6 weeks negotiating with Auckland Council Auckland Council negotiated in good faith with the Government but at the end of it he decided after making no mention of overriding powers to rush through in this Budget overriding powers. How can you have Auckland Council able to deliver what it needs for its constituency when this Government holds a gun to its head? It is unacceptable behaviour.I think Mr Chris Tremain is the ideal person who ought to do that. It is unacceptable the behaviour that Mr Smith is displaying so far. I would ask Mr Tremain to please step forward and help out. Can somebody let this Minister Mr Smith see reason? Can somebody help him to be responsible in his attitude to local government and to Auckland Council? Can somebody please help Mr Smith period and just put him out of his misery? Mr Tremain I hope will have the courage to step up to the plate and take the lead in a very very important debate. It is just unacceptable I would say to this Government—it is unacceptable that you have a bully. That is not the kind of partnership that local government is looking for. It does not want bullies in local government. Dr Smith is a bully as far as I am concerned and is a bully as far as Aucklanders can see.