Wagner Nicky: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13580. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central): As we have heard from previous speakers the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) is a non-controversial bill. It is supported right across the House. This bill is quite simple. All it does is amend the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 to provide the powers for local boards to delegate responsibilities allocated to them under that Act. These powers have already been in place and are working really well. They have been in place for the transitional regulations but those powers expire on 31 October 2013. It is very interesting when the member Phil Twyford was talking about transitional regulations because those transitional regulations were always an interim solution. They were there to give local communities the flexibility to work out andtweak the operations of local boards during the political reorganisation of Auckland. But now is the time for them to become a permanent part of Auckland’s legislation.I have to say that sweetness and light has broken out in the Local Government and Environment Committee because this model has been working so well that we have unanimously supported it going forward. The confirmation of this legislation has been agreed to by the Auckland Council and it has been agreed to by the 21 local boards and their board members. It simply allows local boards to get on with the business of representing and serving their communities. All communities want effective and efficient local government management. There is no doubt about that. It is very important that this is passed in the next few weeks so that those local boards in Auckland can get on with their job in a seamless manner.The success of these local boards in Auckland has prompted changes so the Government has made this kind of model available in other parts of New Zealand. This Auckland model is a two-tier model. It can be copied. Originally it was designed only for metropolitan unitary authorities with a population of more than 400000 but due to demand by local authorities further amendments in the coming year in the next Act will allow smaller councils to have local boards. They will be established more widely across the country. These changes deliver on requests from local government and they will give them a broader range of reorganisation options to enable more efficient and effective provision of local government services and facilities.It is possible that amalgamated local authorities may be able to achieve economies of scale in infrastructure investment and operation and be better able to access specialist expertise and resources. We see that this is a real problem particularly in smaller councils across the country. But it is important that even as they access these benefits they do not sacrifice community input or identity at a local level and this is where this two-tier model can be very successful as we have seen in Auckland. As we go through this reorganisation process the Local Government Commission in consultation with communities undertaking any reorganisation will determine the establishment of local boards and whether that is appropriate justified and desirable. As I have said this bill is non-controversial. All members of the Local Government and Environment Committee supported it. It is supported across the House and I commend it to the House.