Mackey Moana: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
Mackey Moana: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18031] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am very happy to take a call in this debate and to say with the greatest respect to the deputy chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee John Carter that I am getting a bit tired of the “having your cake and eating it too” speeches—the “I support it and I oppose it” all-in-one speech. I say to National members that they should pick a position and stick with it. They should decide what they believe say it and stick to it. If they do not like the bill then they should not vote for it. I can say that the Labour Party unlike the National Party enthusiastically supports the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill. Also I do not know who will do all these reviews for the National Party if it wins the election given that it would fire all the public servants. I guess National will worry about that after the fact. 
I want to start by thanking the promoters of this bill. I thank the officials who worked with us and as the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee I thank all members of the committee. We worked hard on this legislation. I apologise to the bill’s promoters that we were not able to get it out of the select committee by July this year but as members will know we had some issues looking at the Auckland Regional Council and its role that we simply were not able to resolve in time. So I apologise for that; we did very much want to do it. 
I acknowledge all the councils in the Auckland region for the amount of funding they already give to many of these organisations. It certainly is appreciated. I thought that the comments from the National Party about the Auckland City Council were incredibly unfair. I want to just quickly bring to the attention of the House the analysis of some of this funding. If we look at a group such as the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra we see the total amount of funding it gets is $809000 of which $750000 comes from the Auckland City Council. The Auckland Theatre Company receives $105000 all of which comes from the Auckland City Council. The Maritime Museum receives total funding of $747000 of which $72500 comes from the Auckland City Council. So I think it is a bit unfair to accuse the Auckland City Council of somehow being disingenuous with this when it has in fact been incredibly generous to these organisations. It should be thanked by the National Party not pilloried for what it has done. As we know from what the promoters of the bill showed us when we look at the people using these organisations we see they are spread out amongst the Auckland region; that is certainly not represented by the funding figures we have seen here. 
I quickly point out in relation to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Auckland Governance that the terms of reference do not address the issues that these organisations face. It may well be that they happen to be covered but they are not specifically addressed and I do not think it is OK to leave that to the royal commission when it is not something that it is particularly looking at. John Carter raised the matter of other organisations not being included. The criteria for inclusion are clearly set out. A lot of work was done on this before it came to Parliament. These organisations were chosen based on clear criteria. The criteria are still there for other organisations to be added by Order in Council. I certainly do not believe that there will be the problem the National Party is trying to make out there will be. 
Yes ratepayers are always concerned about rates increases. The cost in year one will be an average of $5 per head per resident or an average of $16 per year per household. [ 
Interruption 
] I say to Mrs Goudie that that is the rates impost we are talking about to save these organisations. What if one of these organisations fell over? There would then be a hue and cry and screaming about what the local council had been doing and how the organisation would be funded. I congratulate the promoters of this bill on the foresight they have had in bringing forward this bill before that happens and before we have to go into panic mode to save these organisations. Surveys have been done that were given to the select committee that showed that the people of the Auckland region were supportive of sharing the funding across the region more fairly and the cost was part of that. 
I congratulate the promoters. I know the bill has been a long time getting here. I cannot wait for Dail Jones’ speech. I have already told him that if he gets into trouble on a beach in Auckland there will be an eftpos machine on the surf lifesaver who comes out to get him. He said to me that it would be covered by the SuperGold card and I said: “Only if you get into trouble off peak.”! I am very much looking forward to his speech. I congratulate the promoters thank the select committee and thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.