Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:655;Page:4807] 
9. 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Local Government 
: Does he stand by his proposed reforms for Auckland governance? 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 Yes. Auckland is to have I am pleased to say one mayor one council and one plan. We look forward to further refining the Government’s proposals with the input of Aucklanders through the select committee process. 
Phil Twyford 
: Does the Minister agree with his Associate Minister John Carter who said: “people would rather have 20 councillors elected from wards rather than any elected at large.” for the new Auckland council? 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Labour members should take heart. They criticised me and the Government for not consulting with Aucklanders. Actually we are consulting with them. Not only that we are listening to them too. That will happen also through the select committee process. I am pleased to allow the select committee process to operate and to see what Aucklanders think. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My colleague Phil Twyford asked a very straightforward question to the Minister as to whether he agrees; then Mr Twyford put a proposition to him. The Minister has not told us whether he agrees with the proposition put to him. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think members well know that they cannot expect a yes or no answer from a Minister. The Minister made it very clear that he did not have a yes or no position on that question. In fact he helped the House by advising how the issue will be handled as we look ahead and I think that was probably a pretty helpful answer for the House. 
Phil Twyford 
: Does the Minister agree with his Associate Minister John Carter that Aucklanders would be more “comfortable” with as few as 10 local boards rather than the up to 30 local boards that the Minister is planning for? 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: Thank you for the question. As I said in my primary answer it is clear that Auckland is to have one mayor one council and one plan. We are happy to be working and consulting with Aucklanders. I would like to hear from Aucklanders through the select committee process. We have been hearing from them through meetings. I contrast what this Government is doing in terms of consulting with Aucklanders and what it has done for Auckland in the just under 9 months that it has been in Government with what was done by the previous Government in 9 years. It did nothing except fly Judith Tizard up and down to function after function. 
Phil Twyford 
: Does the Minister stand by his recent comments on Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium that it is “never too late” for a referendum and his view that significant and irreversible changes in local government should be put to a referendum; if so will he hold a referendum on saddling Auckland ratepayers with $84.3 million to fix up Queens Wharf? 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: As I explained in my primary answer I am committed to sorting out the sorry state of Auckland governance where voters mayors and councillors have not been able to address the problems that have beset Auckland. That is my focus in Auckland—the very problems of governance that saw the previous Government spend $4 million on the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance and leave it up to this Government not just to do a report but to actually act on it. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Is it not the case that the local boards under the Minister’s Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill are toothless and impotent have no statutory basis whatsoever and are not even defined as local authorities but as unincorporated societies whatever that means; and given that they are so impotent and toothless how on earth are they supposed to represent in any significant way their local communities? 
Hon RODNEY HIDE 
: No the member is quite wrong. Let us be clear about this: the Government wants the local boards to have a significant role and to be recognised in statute. We want them to have a significant role so that they have an important position in the community and because we do not want the Auckland Council distracted from the regional issues and dragged into every local issue. However we need considerable analysis and input from Aucklanders because we also do not want the local boards to be making decisions that will undermine the regional decision making of the new Auckland Council.