Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — Second Reading 
Blue Jackie: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11410] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am delighted to speak to the second reading of the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. I would like to acknowledge the huge amount of work done by the Hon Rodney Hide and the Hon John Carter. This is the final bill of three bills that will complete the governance arrangements in the Auckland region and bring enduring unity and progress to Auckland for the next 50 to 100 years. The previous speaker the Hon Shane Jones believes that the sky will fall in that there will be no progress and that Auckland will grind to a halt. I doubt that very much. The proof will be in the pudding and I am confident that Auckland will progress with this bill. 
The bill’s main purpose is to resolve matters relating to the reorganisation of local government in Auckland begun under the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009 and continued under the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009. 
I think it is useful at this point in time to recap exactly why this legislation is here. For some time it has been recognised that Auckland has not been progressing and that existing governance arrangements were not working and that is why the previous Government established the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance which was supported by political parties in the House at that time. The royal commission—after 18 months of consultation some 3500 submissions 500 oral submissions and advice from experts—uncovered problems such as suffocating red tape transport bottlenecks and lost opportunities for development. The commission said that doing nothing was not an option. 
The commission found many other things that were holding up Auckland relating to the way in which the city was run. In particular it felt that there was a lack of leadership that there was no single vision for Auckland and that important Auckland-wide matters were getting tangled up with competing interests of local councils. That is why this Government acted swiftly; doing nothing was simply not an option. 
I had the privilege of being a member of the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee. We heard from Aucklanders from all walks of life. We heard their passion and their fears and importantly we listened. We received 800 submissions from local authorities community boards individuals and organisations. Many submitters expressed deep concern with aspects of this bill. They told us that they did not want to lose their local community with which they identified and to which they belonged. They were concerned that their community would be swallowed up and that they would simply lose their identity. Aucklanders told the committee that they did not want Wellington to be in charge of their city; they wanted Aucklanders to be in charge of it. They were passionate and they were vocal. The committee heard their concerns and changes were made to this bill to reflect those concerns. 
I will focus on local boards. The local boards will be the face of local government. They will have an incredibly important role to play. The local boards will be locally elected people who understand their community’s concerns and hopes. Local boards will be required to meet regularly with the communities that they represent. They will be required to formally consult their communities when developing their local board plans. Local boards will have a wide-ranging role. They will make decisions on local matters provide local leadership and importantly strengthen and build the local community. The local boards will also provide important local input into region-wide strategies and plans including those of the council-controlled organisations. The second bill provided for local boards to be responsible for all non-regulatory activities unless a regional approach would better promote the well-being of Aucklanders. The legislation also specifically requires local boards to prepare a 3-yearly local board plan in consultation with their communities. Local board plans must not be inconsistent with the governing body’s priorities and funding objectives. 
Local boards will play an integral role in the Auckland Council’s overall planning process. Before the local government election in October the Auckland Transition Agency will publish the local boards’ baseline lists of responsibilities and functions as well as their baseline funding. Any minor changes will be negotiated and agreed between the elected Auckland Council and the local boards at the time of developing the 2012 long-term council community plan. Local boards will also propose by-laws and are expected to undertake a range of regulatory functions delegated by the governing body. 
It is important to ensure that the funding to the community is maintained through the transition to the Auckland Council. Before the election the Auckland Transition Agency will publish a planning document that will set the first local board budgets. Community funding will be allocated between the governing body and the local boards depending on whether the objectives of the funding are region-wide or local. These allocations will be based on current allocations of contestable community funding made by Auckland’s councils and community boards. When the Auckland Council determines its new funding policy and long-term council community plan in 2012 it will make future decisions about community funding. Local boards will agree on future community funding available for their communities in their local board agreements. 
The super-city will consist of the Auckland Council of 20 councillors and a mayor and 21 local boards. The mayor and the 20 councillors will focus on the big picture and make decisions that affect the Auckland region. The local boards will represent communities at the local level. Their roles and functions have not been defined in the legislation. Instead the Government has inserted into law the principle that decisions are best made at the local level unless there is good reason not to. The initial roles and functions of the local boards will be set out by the Auckland Transition Authority. The Auckland Council will be able to review the local boards’ responsibilities after it comes into being on 1 November. The select committee concluded that a prescriptive approach would be far too difficult too complex and very restrictive. Rather the committee considered that a principle-based approach would allow for flexibility and provide for the ability to adapt to changing local preferences and demographics. 
I am confident after reading the Auckland Transition Agency’s discussion document on local boards that the initial roles and functions of the local boards which will be set out by the Auckland Transport Authority before the local body election will be wise and appropriate. The discussion document shows that the Auckland Transition Agency had an excellent understanding of the role of local boards and their importance to the community. Importantly the Auckland Council will be able to review the local board responsibilities after it comes into being on 1 November. It will have the ability to add new functions and devolve more responsibility if it so chooses. 
The committee has proposed to insert new clause 87A to provide for the initial allocation of non-regulatory decision-making responsibilities to local boards to be fixed until the Auckland Council adopts its long-term council community plan for the period beginning 1 July 2012. The committee felt that that would give the local board members and the communities they represent more certainty about their roles and functions. Importantly the proposed amendment does not prevent the governing body from giving local boards additional functions or making delegations but would prevent the governing body from eroding or taking away any non-regulatory functions that had been allocated to the boards by the Auckland Transition Authority. The commentary on the bill provides examples of local body non-regulatory activities. The examples provided are wide ranging and they emphasise that the detail required to legislate would be simply prohibitive. The committee is confident that a principle-based approach is the best way forward to appropriately allocating functions. I am sure that time will prove that that is the case. Local boards will need to be flexible and respond to their communities’ needs. Being prescriptive and defining in legislation would have the potentially opposite outcome and be an unintended consequence. 
I again congratulate the Minister of Local Government and the Associate Minister of Local Government on their leadership and hard work. This bill has been acclaimed by various  
New Zealand Herald  
reports and I know that as time goes on and as the public understand the changes we have made they also will be accepting of it. I commend this bill to the House.