Kaye Nikki: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Kaye Nikki: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11578] 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 Talofa lava. I will start by summing up the Labour Opposition this evening with the words smear fear and scare. That is all those members are interested in. They have not been talking about this legislation. 
The first point I will make is that John Key has done more for Auckland in 18 months than that party did in 9 years. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: That’s not true; they had Judith Tizard. 
NIKKI KAYE 
: That is right. 
John Key has done more for Auckland whether in infrastructure or in this bill. 
I will deal with some of the issues brought up by the Opposition. The first issue is what it called a lack of democracy. Let us look at the double standards of the Labour Party when it talks about democracy. We were the party that stood for 21 local boards. That party stood for six to 12. We stood for greater local democracy and that party did not. Another issue is that we saw something extraordinary when that party talked about local democracy. We have a Government Supplementary Order Paper that has an amendment backed by the Hon Maurice Williamson and the Hon Pansy Wong with 92 percent of their communities wanting change. What are Labour members doing? They are voting against it. Again those are the double standards of the Labour Party regarding democracy. 
Another issue is community boards. Those members opposite failed to talk about the lack of power those structures have in Auckland. We are offering a principle of subsidiarity. That says that decisions will be local unless it can be proved they are regional. Within the legislation we have offered a guarantee that the local boards will be adequately funded. We have offered more protection for local communities than that party has ever offered. 
I will deal with the issue of greater representation for disadvantaged groups. We hear a lot about that from the opposite side. When it comes to the crunch this legislation has the power to offer—whether for Pacific Island communities or youth communities—greater representation for those disadvantaged groups. We heard from members opposite recently that they did not think the clause on youth representation would offer anything for young Aucklanders. I have already dealt with some of those issues and I have said to members opposite that it is very difficult to put a forum within the legislation. There were many groups that came to the select committee. They were not aggrieved. They argued for youth congresses and youth councils. I am confident we have struck the right balance between ensuring that there is an obligation on the mayor and ensuring that the young people of Auckland have a voice. 
The third issue I will deal with is council-controlled organisations. I acknowledge the Hon George Hawkins. He is the only member of the Labour Party who has made a decent contribution to this legislation. We have seen that in the Supplementary Order Paper that has been accepted this evening. I thank him for his contribution. We have made significant changes to council-controlled organisations in this bill. We are delivering a strong regional entity that will finally deliver infrastructure and services across Auckland. We have strong local boards and we have council-controlled organisations that will be more accountable as a result of amendments like the ones George Hawkins suggested. They will all be linked by one plan and we will have one mayor. We in this Government are delivering transformational legislation. 
I say to members opposite that I thank all of the Aucklanders who participated in this process. There were three pieces of legislation and we had select committee hearings on two of them. We had many submissions. I thank all of those Aucklanders who participated in that process. I thank the 
 New Zealand Herald 
 for covering it because we saw in its recent comments a workable structure for Auckland. We will have greater representation for disadvantaged groups. We will have greater efficiency in terms of our services. We will have greater outcomes from an environmental cultural and economic perspective across Auckland. This side of the House stands for greater local democracy and we are delivering that. I would like to thank my constituents within Auckland Central. It is a very diverse electorate from Waiheke Island to the central business district to the Western Bays to Great Barrier Island. I have had some great feedback from them. Currently there are many communities within Auckland Central who have not had a voice like Waiheke Island. It has been absolutely shafted under the current Auckland governance system. I am proud to be delivering better local democracy for them and better services across Auckland. I will finish by saying this: this legislation has been contributed to by all of the Auckland National MPs. There are many MPs who could not be in the House tonight. I acknowledge Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga Jackie Blue and the Hon Paula Bennett. Thank you.