Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11531] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 Talofa lava. From the outset I say that the Labour Opposition supported the idea that Auckland needed something new. We did not go along with what the Government has done but in the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee we worked together to try to improve things for Aucklanders. We knew that Auckland would have a super-city but we wanted to improve things. I have some amendments in my name to the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill that will increase the public accountability of the council-controlled organisations of the Auckland Council and provide certainty regarding the application requirements. The requirement outlined would not do what I think the Government wants when it says it wants more public involvement—if we can believe that. 
I want to replace those provisions with a provision that all council-controlled organisations of the Auckland Council should be required to nominate in their statement of intent two meetings per year that are open to members of the public. In requiring council-controlled organisations to nominate specified meetings and in describing how those meetings will be publicly notified in their statements of intent the Auckland Council would be consulting on the council-controlled organisations’ decisions on these matters. For each meeting nominated the board of the council-controlled organisation would have to allocate a reasonable amount of time for the public to address the board. That is very important. It means that the public will be able to have a say. One of the things that I know many Aucklanders feel badly about in relation to the council-controlled organisations is that they feel locked out. This provision will give them an entry path in. It is a standard approach that boards of publicly listed companies take at shareholder meetings. On some occasions there may be many shareholders present. 
The provision goes further than the requirements of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act in that it introduces an opportunity for the public to directly participate in the council-controlled organisation’s decision-making process. This requirement would not be limited to the substantive council-controlled organisations of the Auckland Council but would require all council-controlled organisations—entities with more than 50 percent of council ownership—to conduct certain specified meetings in public with public participation. I think that that is one of the really important things because a lot of people told the select committee that they thought they were going to be locked out—completely barred. If the Government takes up the suggestions in my amendments the public will be given an opportunity to be heard. 
We heard the members of the select committee say that they wanted to give people the opportunity to participate. We had Nikki Kaye running around promising everyone all sorts of things. I suppose she handled that quite well—better than the issue of Great Barrier Island becoming a mining centre; she has had a fairly tough time with that. In the end the Labour Opposition wants to give the people of Auckland a voice. Is it mean or spiteful of me to set people like Penny Bright on to the council-controlled organisations? I do not think so. I think most people will make reasoned and serious comments to the council-controlled organisations. People will have particular areas that they believe in and they will want to make reasoned and good statements for the betterment of Auckland. People in Auckland like their local government and they want to participate. I believe the council-controlled organisations should all be opened up twice a year at certain times for the public to come in and have their say. That is very important. It is easy to get up and criticise this bill. We have about 10 hours to do that and we will criticise it.