Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6343] 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 That was a sorrowful speech unfortunately. I thought that the previous speaker George Hawkins might well have made a better contribution than that. 
I start this speech by saying a number of thankyous. I thank the Prime Minister for the leadership and guidance he has given through this issue relating to the change of Auckland governance. I particularly thank the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide for the work he has done and guidance he has given. I have to say that it has been a great privilege to work with the Minister of Local Government in my capacity as Associate Minister of Local Government. Thank you Rodney. I also say a special thank you to all the members of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee and to all the people who worked in it—yes I mean all the members. I must say it was one of the more constructive select committees that I have worked in. I say thank you to each of its members because this bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill has come out of the select committee process far better for the input of all the committee members. Although it is true that we have not agreed on all issues—if members refer to the report of the select committee and particularly the minority reports they will see those parts that are of concern to the Opposition parties—nevertheless we should not overlook the fact that there is a great deal that we do agree on and I will talk about that shortly. 
I also thank all the staff of the select committee and the officials who worked with us because again they made a great contribution. It was a hugely challenging time particularly during the hearings and they ran particularly well. I want to place on record my thanks to all of the staff whether they be staff of the Clerk’s Office or staff of the departments. I thank them and of course the Parliamentary Counsel Office for all the work they have done on this. 
I pay a particular tribute to Aucklanders. There were many people outside of Auckland who made submissions as well but I must say that the contribution of Aucklanders is the reason why this bill has moved forward in the way it has. It was great to have the input from the public of Auckland. Indeed it was because of the work they did and the many contributions and thoughts they put in the heads of the members of the select committee that we have arrived at the conclusions we have. So Aucklanders can today take a bow for the way in which they have made this bill to represent them so much better. 
I think this is a great day in relation to how we address Auckland issues and I say it for this reason: if members of this House reflect on where this debate started and the controversy there was about the way in which the royal commission tabled its report and then the response of the people to the Government’s response it was hugely controversial. Over the months there has been a great deal of work and communication with the people of Auckland particularly but also with others throughout the country as we moved forward on this issue to make sure that we ended up with something that is going to work for not just Auckland but also New Zealand. I think we can take a bow when we think about where we started 4 or 5 months ago. There was the big issue around boundaries which is where the controversy is. There were issues about how we did not want a change in the structure of Auckland about how the local boards were not going to work about how we did not want to have councillors at large and about how we wanted to make sure we had a change in the voting system. There were so many things that were not going to work but the select committee and indeed the Government have responded to all those requests. When we think about what was controversial and what we are debating today we know that as we move this bill forward what is happening is a great step forward. 
I want to remind members of the Opposition that it is they who actually started this process. They were not prepared to take the thing head-on so they handed it to a royal commission as an easy way out but they started the process. At least this Government had the fortitude to get on and make it happen. I remind members of a statement made by one of the members on the select committee. He said and the other members will probably want to use this: “There was a feeling for quite a long time that the city wasn’t working properly with traffic problems crappy infrastructure and a downtown that looks like a bomb site. There was a lot of grumpiness about that. I think our Government was very late in coming to the party and doing something about it.” Who was that from? Well none other than Phil Twyford the spokesman for Auckland from Labour. [ 
Interruption 
] He did say that. It was a quote in an August  
Listener 
. There was a change of Government and the National-led Government has got on and made it happen. We should not overlook the fact that the reason we are debating this is because this Government picked up where Labour was too scared to go and it has got on with the job. 
One of the things that we also need to understand is that this bill is a huge step. It is a major piece of legislation and it is a major change that is being made. There was never any suggestion that we were going to get it right in the first go. It is an ongoing process. The first bill we introduced into the House under urgency set the framework to get us started and we should not forget that; it was an important step. The next bill we put in was what one might call the skeleton. The Auckland Governance Legislation Committee was charged with the responsibility of putting the flesh around it and to a large degree we have done that. We have taken on board the wishes of the people of Auckland. We have talked about a lot of the issues. The main thing that the people of Auckland asked for and the most important thing for them was the power of the local boards. They wanted to ensure that their local communities were represented but the most important thing the submissions asked was that we empowered the local boards. I am pleased to say that that has happened. 
If I can pause for a moment I will just say that the reporting of this legislation and this process as it has moved forward—in particular by the  
New Zealand Herald  
and Bernard Orsman—has in my view been outstanding. Bernard Orsman has done a good job with one exception. He did not get his reporting right in regard to the powers of the local boards. Unfortunately it was because he did not have the opportunity to read and study it enough. During the Committee stage I will take members through that and I hope that Bernard and the  
New Zealand Herald  
are listening so that they can understand the powers that have been given. I have been rung up by many of the chairmen of the community boards by Mike Cohen and people like that who say thank goodness the Government has done it because it has got it right. 
This is part of an ongoing process. As the Minister stated in his speech there will be a third bill. But it is ongoing even beyond that. We know that we will not get everything right in the first go but this Government is prepared to give it a go and my goodness given where we started we will not ever please everybody but we have made a big shift in pleasing the majority of the people who made submissions. People are now saying to us “Let’s get on and make this happen.” That is what will happen with this bill and with this Government.