Locke Keith: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Locke Keith: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3641] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party is very pleased to support this very important new Part 10. I am pleased the Minister has accepted that paid parental leave is well established and will be covered in the legislation perhaps regardless of this amendment. But some other provisions are quite important. For example clause 101(2(d) requires “Recognition of—(i) The aims and aspirations of the Maori people;”. I think that is important. It might be quite educational for the little group that will run the Auckland Transition Agency to have to take into account the aspirations of the Maori people. In the process of running the transition while taking into account the aspirations of the Maori people the agency might come to the realisation that the new body really should have direct Maori representation in the form of three Maori seats. It is quite possible that if the agency takes to heart the provision in this new part it may make very strong recommendations to the Government saying: “Now we’re operating and we’re listening to Maori in the process of operating this transition we very strongly recommend that the Government reinstates the three directly elected Maori seats proposed by the royal commission.” That would be excellent. 
Clause 101(2)(f) requires “recognition of the aims and aspirations and employment requirements and the cultural differences of ethnic or minority groups;”. As is well known quite big meetings have been held in places like South Auckland and there has been very strong Pacific Island participation in those meetings. Those people are worried about the loss of the identity of Manukau City and about how account will be taken of the interests of Pacific people who are concentrated in that city. But if the transition agency really takes on board the provision in clause 102(2)(f) then perhaps it would say to the Government: “Well hold on. The structure you have put in place which strips out local representation and knocks out sub-regional representation like that for Manukau City really affects the rights of different ethnic groups particularly in the case of South Auckland Manukau City and Pacific Island people.” Again perhaps the agency would make urgent representations to the Government to make alterations to the legislation at the last minute. That would at least improve the possibilities of sub-regional identity and the interests of the Pacific Island people being taken into account. The same applies to other non-European groups in our society who feel shut out by this big structure where rich white people will tend to get the positions. There will not be— 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Rich white men. 
KEITH LOCKE 
: Rich white men; I apologise. 
There is also a provision in clause 101(2)(g) to recognise the employment requirements of women. Again as has been rightly pointed out that may educate the transition authority to recommend to the Government urgent changes to the structure so that women are not disadvantaged in the way that they will be under this legislation and the companion Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill that will go through Parliament. 
Clause 104 “Appointments on merit” is quite important because we know that the appointments to the transition agency are to be made directly by the Minister of Local Government without any reference to a Cabinet process. We know that will be hard to achieve so having that provision might at least make his Cabinet colleagues and others say “Hold on there should be a merit procedure.” 
Clause 105 “Acting appointments” could be very relevant because it deals with resignations from the transition agency. I would expect there might be quite a few resignations even though the agency is supposed to go for only a short time. After a few weeks in the job a new appointee might say: “I’m in a horrible position here operating like a dictator intervening in agenda items of local bodies all across the place. The body I’m helping to set up here isn’t going to work.” There might be a lot of resignations so this provision could be very pertinent. 
Clause 108(3)(a) provides for the maintenance of service delivery levels. That could be important too because there would be a tendency for the new—