Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
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Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 I will respond to the comments of the previous speaker David Cunliffe shortly. Before I do it is appropriate to put on record a couple of comments. The first is to acknowledge the contribution that the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide has made with regard to the Government’s response to the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill and to the direction that we are taking. In the time that I have worked with Rodney I have found it very interesting I must say. The ability he has to assess issues and make decisions and to give leadership is something that we should all commend. The progress we are making with this bill is due significantly to the ability and the contribution that he has made. So I acknowledge that. 
I also thank the officials who have been involved because I know that the Hon Rodney Hide and I both acknowledge the contribution that officials from the Department of Internal Affairs have made to getting us to this stage. They have worked endless hours. With the fear of missing people out who should be acknowledged I put on the record the contributions of the likes of Brendan Boyle Anne Carter Marilyn Little John Sutton Deborah James and Josh Mitchell—amongst many others who come to mind like Leeanne O’Brien. Many others have made a contribution to this legislation. I acknowledge their contribution and thank them on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the Minister of Local Government the Hon Rodney Hide and myself. 
The issue that we have today—and I am afraid the debate will be like this all day—is about scaremongering. I listened to the speech made by the member who has just resumed his seat the Hon David Cunliffe and the speech made by the member from the Greens yesterday and the sad and unfortunate thing is that they continue to exaggerate what is happening and that is the real problem. They say that they support one Auckland and that they believe there should be one authority across Auckland. Many of the Labour people who have spoken have said that. Even some of the Green members have commented that there are some advantages in having one system of roading in having one plan and in having one water delivery system. They acknowledge that there are advantages in taking the steps the Government has taken and in taking the direction laid down by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. 
I will comment on what the previous speaker said about Waitakere City. He said that this Government is going to absolutely take away what the royal commission said. It makes one wonder whether the member actually read the royal commission’s report on the effect of the six councils that it has suggested. The House should understand that the local boards will have more powers will be more able to make decisions and will be more involved with their communities than the six councils would have that the royal commission suggested setting up. I want to make it clear to members opposite that Rodney Hide the Government and I have determined that the local boards will have a higher authority than the royal commission recommended that the six councils should have. Let us make that very clear. 
Phil Twyford 
: That’s not true. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: It is absolutely true. If the member goes back and reads the royal commission report if he has a look at what is intended in this second bill and if he considers the outcome of that he will see that the local boards are being given more authority than what was recommended in the royal commission’s report. It is important that people understand that. So rather than Waitakere having less it could well end up with more depending on what it asks us to put in the legislation on its behalf. We are waiting— 
H V Ross Robertson 
: What about Manukau? 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: I say to Ross Robertson that it is exactly the same for Manukau. It is entirely over to the people of Manukau and that is the very point. We are out there consulting. One of the things I will say for the Minister is that he has ideas he enunciates them well but he also listens to debate on them and then he will make a decision. That is the very point. The Minister who is in charge of this legislation does want to consult and debate out there. It is part of how he is. He wants to listen to what the people of Auckland have to say. So do I and so does this Government. That is the very reason for the legislation going to a select committee. It is the very reason that this bill does just one thing. It sets up what it seems that everybody in this House agrees with—that is that there should be one authority. That is all this bill does. It sets up a transition committee to allow that to take place by 2010 to give a smooth flow into the new council when it is set up. I have not heard one Opposition member argue about that particular point. The argument has been about the detail in the second bill. Not one argument has been made that we should not have one unitary authority that we should not have one roading system that we should not have one water system or that we should not have one plan. I have not heard any— 
Phil Twyford 
: We have always agreed with that. That’s not the point. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: Indeed it has been the reverse. Opposition members all say that they think it is actually a good thing. Well so do we. So I cannot understand the argument in that regard. We are talking about the detail around what we propose and what the royal commission proposed in relation to the six councils. I say again that we will end up with the local boards having more authority than what the royal commission recommended for the six councils that it recommended. We will ensure that it is prescribed in law that the functions that those communities want—Manukau which Ross Robertson talks about Waitakere Waiheke Island Papakura or wherever it might be—will be accommodated. That is the problem; the Opposition does not like it because actually we are listening and we will be able to accommodate most sensible reasonable requests by the community. 
That is why we have not gone out and made decisions. It would have been very easy for us to put a whole list of functions in the second bill and then put it through in urgency. We did not do that. We decided that we would go out and consult the community. The funny thing is that that is what the Opposition asked us to do it said that should happen. Lo and behold when the Government did it the Opposition members sat there and thought: “How do we argue against that now?”. They are getting exactly what they asked for. We are giving to Auckland those things that they are asking for. The public the likes of Mayor Bob Harvey are saying they want to be consulted. Well Mayor Bob Harvey we will consult. Len Brown from Manukau City said he wants to be involved in the process. Well Mayor Len Brown can be involved in the process. We welcome the involvement. In fact we encourage that involvement from the public of Auckland and from the leaders of Auckland because we want to make sure we get this right and we will get it right. 
It is important for the Opposition and for the people who are anxious about this issue to understand that this Government is about consulting. We will be listening to the wishes of the community. We will be prescribing functions once we have discussed those with the people from the community and there are ways in which we can do it. The previous speaker talked about wards and members at large. Again we are not hard and fast about that. The royal commission suggested a ratio of 10:10. We have put in the bill 12:8 but if somebody comes up and says it should be 15:5 or who knows maybe 20:0 that might be where we end up because we are open for submissions on it. The Minister of Local Government has made that clear and the Prime Minister has made that clear. We are not hard and fast on it. We want submissions on it because we want to make sure there is fair representation and that the communities get the local back into local government as the Opposition keep telling us they should. That is exactly what will happen. This Government is consulting. This Government will hear submissions. We will accept the recommendations of the majority of the people of Auckland. We will be able to accommodate the wishes of the majority of the people and the submissions they make. 
I am absolutely certain that at the end of this process—bearing in mind that we have a second bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill which involves the Local Government Commission and a third bill—there will be a huge amount of understanding and support for the legislation as we progress. This Government is all about consultation. We respect the wishes of the people and we will respond to them.