Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6490] 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 Two or three points have been made that I think are worth responding to but I will start by saying that one of the things we have been waiting to hear about from Opposition members is the actual principle about the things they consider are important. Opposition speakers have gone into a whole lot of minor detail. I am very disappointed in the Opposition’s debate because the bill is significant. Passing the bill is one of the biggest things that will happen in the House during this term of Parliament. We are debating a measure that will affect a third of our country the powerhouse of our country and it matters. We are setting up a regional structure that will look after things in Auckland. With rare exception I have not heard Opposition members saying that the legislation is important for New Zealand and that they support it. One or two of them have referred to it to be fair but they have not bothered to debate why it needs to happen. 
In fact most members opposite agree with the bill. But they should be saying so because it is important legislation. If members agree with it then they should be standing up and saying that it will be good for Auckland and good for New Zealand. Unfortunately they are not telling the public about the wonderful opportunity that is being set up which the previous Labour Government began and which the National Government has picked up and made happen. We will put in place a structure that will ensure that the future of Auckland is secure and that those things that matter on a regional basis will be dealt with. That is really important for us to say and to understand. 
There has been some comment about the issue of local boards and I think it is important for us to spend a little bit of time debating it. I know that some members—Sue Kedgley is one of them—are still concerned that we have not got it right. She and I will agree to disagree on that. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. One of the things the royal commission report talks about is local councils and I suspect that much of it was influenced by one of its members David Shand. He was a Labour candidate some time ago and a real leftie. He has disappointed me. The Shand report was a failure and I suspect that his input into the royal commission report was not much better. 
I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that the chairman of the New Zealand Community Boards Mike Cohen whom most members opposite will know as do most of our members has said that he is very pleased with the Government’s decisions in respect of the number of local boards we are putting up and the powers they are being given. I also draw the Committee’s attention to the commentary on the bill. It is important for members opposite to remember what Labour’s minority report says about local powers. Labour actually agrees with what the Government has done about local powers. Labour does not agree with the number of local boards and I accept that. It says there should be 14 to 20 boards and we say there should be 20 to 30. We are not that far away; the Opposition has shifted a lot. With regard to local powers the Labour Opposition agrees with what the Government has said. 
If we look at what the Green Party members have said—although I accept that they and especially Sue Kedgley have some concerns—we see that in the main they are not saying that what we are endeavouring to do in respect of local powers is wrong. They are just concerned as to whether we have got it right. As I have said we will find out as we move forward. I say to listeners and to the Committee that the issue of local boards is absolutely important and the majority of the Committee agrees with the powers that the Government is giving to the local boards. That is important. 
There has been some debate about the issue of community groups and I remind members that part of the responsibility for the transition will be determined by what is in the third bill on Auckland governance. I make the point that this is an ongoing process. We started with one bill we are nearly finished now with the second bill and there will be a third bill. A lot of detail will come through in the third bill that members will take a great deal of interest in as they should. That detail will be part of what makes the whole thing happen. The third bill will address a lot of the concerns that members have. We will decide in the third bill whether we need to instruct the unitary authority or make a recommendation to the unitary authority as to how it should deal with the community groups and the funding issues that the member Steve Chadwick raised. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: It’s very important. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: It is absolutely important and we concede that. We know that the issue of funding has to be dealt with and the sorts of issues that the member raised in respect of the organisations and their funding will be dealt with in the third bill. It is a work in progress and those issues will be dealt with. Believe you me those issues will be addressed and when we come to debate them the member will see the Government’s intention and see how the issues will be dealt with. We have not forgotten them; we certainly understand how important they are. 
I remind members that part of this work was always going to have to proceed in steps. We had to make a decision as to whether we would set up the super-city and we did so in the first bill. We had to make some decisions as to how many local boards and wards there would be and then we had to pass that over to the Local Government Commission. That is what we have done. The commission will now go through its process and at the end of it the commission will come out with a decision on the number of councillors the number and shape of the wards and the number and shape of the local boards. Then we will pass the third bill which will make sure that the structure is right and that the work that local communities want done can happen. Just as important is that the Auckland Transition Agency will be doing its work. 
For some reason the Opposition seems to be saying that this should have happened yesterday and because it did not we have got it wrong. We never said we would get it right in the first instance. It has been a long process. One thing we can give this Government credit for is that the process has been a heck of a lot shorter than it would have been if that lot opposite had been in power because they would never have got round to doing it. That is very important for members to understand. 
With regard to the issue of mayoral powers which Sue Kedgley raised although we have recommended that we want the mayor and the council to consult that does not override the Local Government Act. Members should bear in mind that some changes may be coming forward as Rodney Hide I and others work on those sorts of issues. Nevertheless that does not override the need for consultation. 
I will finish on one other point that I think is very important. I pick up the comments that Hone Harawira made last night. I thought his address was very good and I compliment him on it. His comments were around the issue of Maori seats. The Opposition has raised the issue a lot and Hone Harawira picked up on it and was just as cynical as I am about the Opposition’s position on the Maori seats. We had a contribution from my colleague from up north Shane Jones—and it is funny that all three of us are part of the debate on Maori seats. He made the comment that he did not think there should be mana whenua seats. He made that comment here in the Chamber and he still believes it. The fact is that he said that to us and a number of people in the Chamber. At least he was honest enough to stand up and say it. What really concerns Hone Harawira me and I think Shane Jones is that it took the Labour Opposition a long time to decide whether it would do anything about the Maori seats then it cynically decided that it needed to get on the bandwagon. 
That is the very point that Hone Harawira made last night. He thinks the decision of the Labour Opposition to support having Maori seats was cynical. At least he knew where he stood with Rodney Hide and he knows where he stands with the National Government but the Labour Opposition played around with the idea until it thought that maybe there was a bit of value in it. That is unfortunate and it is what worries me about this debate. We should be looking at the issue constructively because it is hugely important. It really does worry me that all we are hearing from the Opposition is commentary on minor things that have no major impact at all instead of concentrating on the things that matter—on the fact that we are putting in place a structure that will affect one-third of this country. We will get the regional stuff right and we will get the local boards right. We know it is work in progress and we know there is a lot of work ahead of us yet. There will be another select committee process the Local Government Commission will work on the legislation and the Government will get it right as we move forward.