Boscawen John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Boscawen John: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6526] 
JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) 
: 
 When I took a call earlier this evening I referred to the fact that as I was walking across the bridge to the Chamber I said to the Hon George Hawkins: “You stand up and give a speech because if it is typical of what Labour members have said on this debate so far today I will be able to take it apart sentence by sentence.” Well George Hawkins did not let me down. Mr Hawkins talked about the cost of integration. I was very pleased that Mr John Carter took a call immediately after Mr Hawkins to point out the fact that we should not look just at the cost of integration but at the benefits. We should look at the overwhelming benefits of having one city. 
What is the example that George Hawkins gave? He said that currently we have eight computer systems and we will move to one so we have to go out and buy one new computer system. Mr Hawkins and Labour members should look not at the cost of the one new computer system but at the cost of the existing eight computer systems that are currently in place at the cost of the eight different sets of programmes at the cost of eight different sets of hardware and at the cost of running them. They should also look at the massive inefficiency with that. I knew I could rely on George Hawkins to point out the folly of his own argument and why we need to have a super-city and I was not let down. 
When I was campaigning in Mt Albert I came across a plumber. He said that on his truck he had pipes that he could put in in Manukau City pipes he could install in Waitakere City and pipes he could install in Auckland City and that none of them would go across the boundaries. He has to carry three different sets of pipes. What is the cost to Auckland and Auckland’s residents of that? 
Talking about Mt Albert David Shearer made a comment today that was in keeping with the misinformation that Labour wants to put out. He talked about the cost of a councillor running an at-large campaign. He said it would cost $200000 to run an at-large campaign. We have all campaigned. To print 500000 copies of a piece of A4-sized paper folded three times over to fit into a DL envelope costs about $25000. If that cost is split between 10 councillors that is $2500 a councillor. If the 600 volunteers that Mr Banks has reputedly arranged are used—we have been told about them this afternoon—then there is a free delivery service. Labour has consistently argued through misinformation against having at-large councillors. It would cost nothing like $200000 to run an at-large campaign. If members want an example they need just to look at the election that is happening right now in Aucklanders’ backyards and in Mr Hawkins’ backyard for the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust. 
I come now to Carmel Sepuloni. What did she say? She referred to the fact that in the Auckland City Council the Pacific librarian has been changed to the new migrant librarian and she takes exception to that. She said that as a Pacific person she finds it difficult that the Pacific librarian has been replaced with a new migrant librarian. I think that illustrates the point. 
We also heard from Mr Sio this evening. He said that Pacific peoples are prepared to put aside their aspirations for a seat at the top table so that we can have specialised Maori seats. Mr Sio was really saying that we should get Maori seats and that once we have Maori seats on the council we should get Pacific seats. It will not be good for Carmel Sepuloni and the Labour Party to have new migrant seats. We will have to have Pacific seats Asian seats and whatever else seats. The Labour members have dramatically illustrated why we need to have this bill. 
I will come back to Ross Robertson’s comments. He stood up and waxed lyrical about the fact that Otahuhu does not have a swimming pool. I know something about Otahuhu because I grew up there and in Papatoetoe. I am a very proud former pupil of Otahuhu College. My father was a pupil there a teacher there and a principal there. The people of Otahuhu built a swimming pool at the school in the 1950s. They dug it by hand and they were very proud of that community asset. 
I want to talk about asset utilisation. That is where the overwhelming savings will come in with the super-city. We are constantly told about the $28 billion worth of assets in Auckland. Well let us utilise those assets. 
When I indicated that there is a swimming pool in Otahuhu in the Otahuhu College swimming pool what did Mr Robertson say? He said that it does not count.