Robertson Grant: Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Robertson Grant: Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:667;Page:14241] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 It is an honour to follow Colin King who had such an authoritative ending to his speech. Both sides of the House agree that the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill should not proceed. Obviously as the Local Government and Environment Committee noted the bill should not proceed because the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act has superseded it. It is important to reflect on the process by which that Act came into being while reflecting on this bill because we have to set the context. 
I think it is worth noting firstly the excellent work that the select committee did on the bill. Would it not have been good if all of the legislation regarding the change to Auckland governance had found its way to a select committee? Perhaps if that had happened the people of Auckland might have had a true opportunity to be listened to. What we have seen with the change in Auckland governance is the activities of one Minister Rodney Hide—the tail wagging the dog of the National Government. Now perhaps National members might be looking across at Rodney Hide who is the Minister responsible for the legislation that superseded this bill and asking whether they want to be associated with that man. Do they really want the public of New Zealand to think that Rodney Hide is leading the strategy for the National Government for our biggest city and for the biggest change in local government in New Zealand’s history certainly since the 1989 reforms? Do they really want the National Government to be led by Rodney Hide? He is a man whose credibility has been destroyed a man who has covered up the most despicable of acts and as a Minister he now has no credibility to be leading a process that this bill has now been superseded by. National members have to ask themselves that question. Rodney Hide has clearly got it wrong in Auckland and my colleague Phil Twyford has talked about that. 
Of course there was a need for change in Auckland governance. Of course there was a need to bring together the people of the Greater Auckland region in a way that would benefit transport and those issues that cut across different parts of the city. But the way that the National Government has put forward the reforms for Auckland governance has been unacceptable. It has overridden democracy. It has put in place people who will enforce the agenda of Rodney Hide and others in vitally important organisations. 
When I look at this bill which refers in particular to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology I wonder whether part of the $62 million computer system that the Auckland super-city is putting in place might one day find itself at the Museum of Transport and Technology. When people visit the museum and look at it they will say: “Gosh $62 million. That was a lot of money to spend on a computer system. It’s unbelievable that it didn’t go out to tender.” It is absolutely incredible that a project as important as that as important for Auckland and its future did not go out to tender. Once again that is an example of the way in which the process of the Auckland governance reforms which superseded this bill have been railroaded through have not been subject to due process and in fact are a black mark on this Government. The Government needs to reconsider whether it is appropriate that those reforms continue in this way. 
One of the interesting aspects of this bill is that it cuts to the question of regional amenities. Obviously the people of Auckland and the people of Franklin have had some difficulty ironing out exactly where the boundaries lie and that is the reason why this bill came forward. I speak here as a member representing the Wellington region to say that this issue is vexing many of the councils in this area. The Wellington City Council which oversees a number of excellent facilities in the region has been looking to other councils to ask if it can sustain these facilities without the support of people in the region. As we know the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology are visited by people from the Franklin area and they are visited by people from a number of other regions nearby. The question automatically arises: what should be done about that? 
The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act was passed and it enables the Auckland region to look at things on a regional basis. As a Wellington member of Parliament I am certainly well disposed to the idea of something similar to that happening in Wellington. Obviously in Wellington we have a great deal of important artistic and cultural institutions such as Te Papa the International Festival of the Arts the National Opera the Royal New Zealand Ballet the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra the New Zealand School of Dance and the New Zealand School of Music. These are all vitally important parts of our cultural infrastructure here in the Wellington region. We need them to be sustainable because quite frankly people in Wellington will look and say that now we have this very powerful entity in Auckland will we be able to continue to hold on to these regional amenities in the Wellington region? I think the answer is that obviously we want to hold on to them and we need to make sure that the whole region can look towards cooperating on that. I look forward to the end of the local body elections when we will find out who will be representing those Wellington councils. Certainly as a Wellington MP I will want to work with them on that. 
This bill has indeed been superseded by the process that has occurred in Auckland. From Labour’s point of view that process has not been acceptable. It has not been democratic. It has shown up the Government in a very poor light. The connection with ACT leader Rodney Hide in this regard is something that the people of Franklin I am sure will remember and the people of Auckland generally will remember. Although this bill will be discharged tonight after its second reading it is fair to say that it reminds us of the stain on this Parliament of the way in which the National - ACT Government has forced on the people of Auckland a structure and a process that they have not had a proper say in. The Government lost a great opportunity to put in place a truly democratic Auckland governance structure which could have gotten over some of the problems that have bedevilled Auckland for many years but still kept a democratic process in place. That is something that Parliament needs to reflect on very seriously as this bill is discharged.