Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
Carter John: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:8547] 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 The Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill and this issue deserve to have thorough scrutiny and a proper debate. I guess we will look back at this time in history and say that the shame of this issue is that when this Government brought this legislation into the House it had an ineffective hopeless Opposition that was not capable of debating the issues. The sad fact is that for Labour members the debate was led off by a member who cannot focus on the things that matter to Auckland. Indeed that member has said that Mayor Andrew Williams is an outstanding mayor. Well that says it all! In fact he was trying to tell the House that the members of the Local Government Commission are right-wing lackeys. That will come as a surprise to Sue Piper I am sure. But enough of that; there are things that are more important. 
I want to join with the Minister of Local Government in thanking all those who have been involved in this legislation. I thank Mark Ford Rob Fisher and others from the Auckland Transition Agency the staff of the Department of Internal Affairs and the staff of the Parliamentary Counsel Office. We have had outstanding support. I also put on record the leadership of the Minister of Local Government and the drive and energy he has brought to this legislation. It would not be in place in the way it is if it were not for his leadership. People will look back and say that he was exactly the right person to lead this legislation at this time and make progress. 
The Minister of Local Government referred in his speech to the  
New Zealand Herald 
. I too want to draw the House’s attention to articles that have appeared in the  
New Zealand Herald 
. One headline states: “Auckland local authority reform moves”. Another article is entitled: “Inquiry on two-tier local body system sought”. Other articles are headed: “Rapid population growth adds to problems in Auckland” “Minister strong advocate of new system” and “Two-tier local body plan ideal for Auckland”. So the articles go on. 
Those six articles are worth reading. Of course they are interesting because they appeared in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 on 15 September 1959. One article states: “For more than 50 years civic reformers have tried to introduce some type of change in Auckland.” That article was written in 1959 and it shows that for more than 100 years the people of Auckland have had expectations that there would be change. It was not until this Government with Prime Minister John Key and Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide that we have got on and are making the changes. New Zealand and Auckland will be better for it. 
I remind the House of what the National Government has done. We have brought in two other bills relating to Auckland. The first bill concerned the “what”—that is what the issue is; the second was about “who” and the powers and the roles of the mayor and the councillors; and this bill the third bill relates to “how” it will be. It is about assets and liabilities. This bill transfers those assets to the council from the present structure. It ensures that those councils and subsidiaries continue as they should. This bill protects the interests of staff—this is very important and it is one of the issues I expected Labour members to pick up on but they have not—as they move from the old councils to the new councils. It also gives the new councils the power to get on and start running from 1 November 2010. That is important because for us to get this issue under way we had to make sure that we worked to a timetable that benefited the people of Auckland—and we will. 
This bill deals with the issues that were raised during select committee consideration of the last Auckland bill such as the issue of ethnic committees. This bill deals with that issue but the previous speaker never bothered to mention that. This legislation also deals with issues concerning mana whenua. Of course it does not do all that people would like but it does address those issues. They are important issues for the people of Auckland and for the people of New Zealand and we will be properly addressing those issues as we go through the select committee process on this bill—the third bill. 
I want to address in particular the issue of local boards because much has been made about the powers and responsibilities of the local boards. The Minister of Local Government and I have said we intend to ensure that the local boards have proper authority and responsibility. One issue that was important during select committee consideration of the second bill was that there was unanimous agreement on that point. We also agreed that it was not our role to try to designate those responsibilities. We did not have the ability to specify a list of responsibilities that the boards may have. 
We know that the boards vary. Waiheke Island has different needs from those of Waitakere for example. So we have done the responsible thing. We will give the authority to the boards and the Auckland Transition Agency which is currently working through this process will ensure that the responsibilities are delegated. For example the agency will look at what happened at Waitakere or Papakura and it will say: “Here are the responsibilities that the authorities carry out for them.” They will take away those issues relating to the regional councils and pass them to the Auckland Council and the rest of the responsibilities will remain with the local boards. 
That is how the transition will take place. They will be delegated those responsibilities and as a consequence the responsibilities will not be able to be changed unless there is agreement between the boards and Auckland City. I cannot think of a better way to ensure that the local boards get all the representation and responsibility they need. 
I also want to talk about the council-controlled organisations. I heard Sue Kedgley from the Green Party talk about “Crown-controlled organisations” but they are actually council-controlled organisations. They are the responsibility of the Auckland City Council. Let us understand that we are setting up an authority that goes like this: the mayor and the 20 councillors who are democratically elected will be responsible for the decision making and the setting out of the parameters that the council wants to see implemented on behalf of the people. The local boards will work within that as will the council-controlled organisations. The council-controlled organisations are operational; they are not governance organisations. We need to understand that their job is to carry out the wishes and the commands of Auckland City and that is exactly how those organisations will operate. 
I have every confidence that when the new mayor and the councillors are elected they will set parameters that allow the council-controlled organisations and the boards to get on and do the job that we envisage as we set up the structure will ensure that there is proper democracy. I am confident that “local” is put back into local government and that where we need to have a council-controlled organisation—such as Watercare Services an operational organisation—it has the ability and the responsibility to get on and deliver water or whatever service is required of it for the people of Auckland and in the best interests of the people of Auckland. But most importantly we will finally have a structure that allows for efficiency in decision making. The lack of such a structure is most of all what has held back Auckland for so long. We will finally get a structure that allows us to make progress. That is not only in the best interests of Auckland but in the best interests of this country. I am proud to be part of it.